Warren, Booker together again after Durant trade
T.J. Warren has returned to Phoenix where the lights are now literally brighter.
The Suns had that poorly lit and cramped practice court inside what was then called Talking Stick Resort Arena during his first run with the team. Now Warren’s working out in the new $45-million practice facility located on 44th Street and Camelback Road that’s fully lit, has two practice courts and is 53,000 square feet.
“This is definitely an eye opener,” Warren said after Monday’s practice. “Walked into the facility. It’s a great feeling man. It feels good to be back. Just to see everything around is surreal.”
Warren played his first five seasons in Phoenix before being traded to Indiana a month after Monty Williams was named head coach in May 2019.
Two teams and a foot injury that sidelined him the entire 2021-22 season later, Warren is back with the Suns (31-27) as he was part of last week’s Kevin Durant blockbuster trade.
“I didn’t even know what to think,” Warren said. “I found out like 1 a.m. I was in my apartment in New York and I was just like, wow, I get to go back home. A place where I spent the longest in my NBA career. And to be able to be back with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Monty Williams and the whole team, it’s a surreal feeling. Definitely good times to be with the Phoenix Suns right now.”
The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four future first-round picks and a pick swap to Brooklyn for Durant and Warren.
“T.J. is a natural leader whose work ethic and commitment to getting better every day make him an important addition to the team as he returns to the Valley,” said new Suns team owner Mat Ishbia in last week’s news release.
Warren and Darius Bazley will be available for Tuesday’s game against Sacramento (32-24) at Footprint Center. The Suns traded Dario Saric and a second-round pick to Oklahoma City for the 6-8 Bazley.
Warren’s last game with Brooklyn was ironically against Phoenix two days before the trade deadline. Averaging 9.5 points on 51% shooting this season, Warren scored 17 in 22 minutes in a 116-112 loss for the Nets in Devin Booker’s return game after he missed 21 games with a left groin strain.
Now Booker and Warren are teammates again.
The Suns drafted those two in the first round in back-to-back years in 2014 (Warren 14th overall pick out of North Carolina State) and 2015 (Booker 13th overall pick out of Kentucky).
“It’s crazy, I was at his house when we played out here a couple of weeks ago,” said Warren, as Brooklyn played in Phoenix Jan. 19. “We were just having conversations about the old times and basketball.”
The 6-8 Warren averaged 14.4
points on 49.7% shooting in his first five NBA seasons with the Suns. His last season in Phoenix ended with him missing the team’s final 33 games what the Suns called a right ankle soreness, but he said it was a bone bruise.
Warren recalls having a conversation with Williams about a week before he was traded.
“Monty reached out to me,” Warren said. “Monty he’s a big D-West (David West) guy and I am as well.”
Williams coached West in New Orleans in his first year as an NBA head coach in 2010-11. West has served as a mentor to Warren.
“That connection right there really set that conversation off,” Warren said. “I’ve heard so many amazing things about Monty. It’s definitely great for him to be my coach. Definitely looking forward to it.”
Warren bounced back from that 2018-19 season in Phoenix to have a career year in Indiana in the 2019-20 season that ended with him erupting in the Orlando Bubble.
Averaging 19.8 points that season, Warren scored a career-high 53 points in the bubble against Philadelphia. He averaged 31 points in six bubble “seeding”
games to finish third to Blazers AllStar Damian Lillard for player of the seeding games.
Booker finished second in the voting in leading Phoenix to an 8-0 bubble run.
Warren looked to build off that season that ended with Indiana making the playoffs, but only played four games in the 72-game NBA-shortened 2020-21 season.
With a history of injuries, Warren suffered a stress fracture of his left foot that required surgery and missed the entire 2021-22 season.
He signed a one-year deal with the Nets in July 2022, didn’t play until Dec. 2 of the same calendar year, but has shown he can still score. Warren dropped a season-high 23 in Brooklyn win Dec. 26 at Cleveland.
“The thing I’ve always saw with him is his ability to just get a bucket,” Williams said. “He can score the ball and he’s got size.”