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T.J. Warren clearly likes the new rims in the NBA bubble. The six-year NBA veteran exploded for a career-high 53 points on 20-29 shooting in his first game in Orlando. Warren’s career night boosted the Indiana Pacers to an unlikely win over a fully healthy Philadelphia 76ers team. In the process, he joined sharpshooters Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the NBA record books Saturday night.

T.J. Warren is an underrated NBA scorer

T.J. Warren is far from a household name in the NBA, but maybe he should be. Warren is averaging 19.2 points per game this season, and he’s one of the league’s few threats to go for 30 on any given night.

Over his six-year career, Warren is shooting an incredible 50.6% from the field. It’s not as if he’s shy with his jumper, either. Warren shoots 14.5 shots per game, and he makes more than half of them. Those are elite center numbers, not average guard stats.

Warren has scored over 18 points per game in each of the last three seasons. He’s surprisingly one of the most efficient scorers in the league, and his game is severely underrated.

Warren played the best game of his NBA career Saturday night

T.J. Warren has always been an underrated scorer in the NBA, but hardly anyone knew he had this kind of offensive explosion in him. During the Pacers’ first game in the NBA bubble, Warren went off for 53 points on 20-29 shooting and 9-12 from three.

It was a career night across the board for the savvy bucket-getter. NBA fans gave the undermanned Pacers little chance to upset the revamped Sixers, but Warren almost singlehandedly got the job done.

Before Saturday night, Warren’s career high was 40 points. He accomplished that with the Phoenix Suns, but he soared over 40 with Indiana in his first NBA bubble game.

With so much uncertainty headlining the 2020 season, Warren has the most impressive performance in the NBA bubble so far, and it isn’t very close. If he can continue his hot scoring, the Pacers can be a contending force in the Eastern Conference.

Warren joined Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the NBA record books with his historic performance

Warren’s 53-point outburst wasn’t just the best game of his career. It was one of the most efficient and dominant performances of the last decade in the NBA.

Warren scored 53 points with just four free throw attempts. The only other players to do that in the last 10 years? Oh, just two of the greatest shooters in NBA history. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were the only players in the last decade to score 50 points in a game while shooting fewer than five free throws.

Now, they have company.

Joining a scoring list with Curry and Thompson is no small feat. It just shows how criminally under-appreciated Warren’s scoring ability is. The Sixers underestimated him Saturday night, and T.J. Warren put up a historic performance because of it.

All stats courtesy of Basketball Reference

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Staff Writer

Jack Dougherty

Writing professionally since 2015, Jack Dougherty spent six years as a sportswriter with publications such as GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, and the Associated Press before joining Sportscasting in 2020. He covers the NBA, the NFL, and the world of golf extensively and has added expertise on any team located in or around his hometown of Philadelphia. Yes, that includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies.

When Jack isn’t writing about sports, he’s watching them or playing them as he regularly heads to the gym for some pickup basketball or the golf course to hit the links. He’s also an avid participant in the sports betting scene who worked at a casino sportsbook for a year and learned the ins and outs of the industry before bringing his expertise to Sportscasting with one excellent gambling recommendation after another.