Thunder waive T.J. Leaf, Admiral Schofield

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced after Friday’s preseason finale that the team has waived T.J. Leaf and Admiral Schofield.

Leaf was traded to the Thunder on Nov. 22 in a deal that saw the Thunder trade away Jalen Lecque to Indiana in exchange for Leaf and a future second-round pick.

Schofield was traded to the Thunder on Draft Night that saw OKC trade the 53rd overall pick, which became Cassius Winston, and a 2024 second-round pick in exchange for Schofield and Vit Krejci.

Cutting Leaf is a bit of a surprise. The former first-round pick had the pedigree and salary to be a near guarantee for a roster spot when the trade occurred. Sam Presti was praised for the deal as taking a flier on the talents of Leaf and hoping a fresh start in a new situation would benefit him.

And if not, then the team could have moved on from him fairly easily.

I guess Leaf did not leave a good impression during camp as he went from playing 17 minutes in the first preseason game to just six total in the following two.

Much like Leaf’s situation, Schofield played 18 minutes in the first preseason game but only eight total minutes in the remaining two games.

The Thunder’s big man crop will most likely be Al Horford and Mike Muscala getting the majority of the minutes. There is also the possibility of someone like Darius Bazley gets some minutes at the five in small lineups.

The Thunder now need to trim one more player in order to finalize their regular-season roster.

OKC’s regular season tips off is Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they face the Houston Rockets.