Thunder trade Jalen Lecque for TJ Leaf & a second round pick

The Thunder have followed their status quo again. Oklahoma City have traded Jalen Lecque to the Pacers in exchange for T.J. Leaf and a second round pick. Lecque was on the Thunder for only a short amount of time before being on the move again. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweeted out the trade.

Lecque spent less than a week with the Thunder. Lecque was part of the package that the Suns gave to Oklahoma City in exchange for Chris Paul this past Monday. Three out of the four players in that trade have been dealt elsewhere in the last week.

The 20-year-old sophomore spent his rookie season in the G League for the Suns. His player profile is a guy with elite athleticism but nonexistent shooting. Lecque is not nicknamed ‘Baby Westbrook’ for no reason.

T.J. Leaf will get a fresh start in Oklahoma City after three consecutive poor campaigns with the Pacers. Leaf was never able to be a mainstay in the rotation for the Pacers. For whatever reason, TJ could not crack Nate McMillan’s nightly rotation. Oklahoma City will give it a shot with the former 18th overall pick.

These are the type of trades Presti should make now that the Thunder are no longer contending. Trading for talented players with no real future with their current team makes a lot of sense. The Thunder will be hoping that a change of scenery will bring out Leaf’s potential.

The trade has little cost attached to it. Oklahoma City can move on fairly easy if the Thunder feel that Leaf is not working out well. Presti was also able to pick up a second round pick as a nice bonus in the trade for the Thunder.