Last Updated on July 24, 2026 by Mat Diekhake

T.J. Leaf entered the spotlight as a highly skilled forward whose scoring touch and offensive versatility helped him stand out at a young age. Throughout his career, he has relied on his feel for the game and ability to contribute in multiple ways to remain an effective player at the professional level.

Player Profile

Physical Attributes:

  • Height: 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 meters)
  • Weight: 222 pounds (101 kilograms)
  • Wingspan: 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 meters)
  • Shoe Size: Size 18 (US)

Basketball Career:

  • Position: Power Forward
  • Jersey Number: 22
  • High School: Foothills Christian High School in El Cajon, California
  • College: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (2016–2017)
  • NBA Draft: 2017, Round 1, Pick 18 by the Indiana Pacers
  • Teams Played For:
    1. Indiana Pacers: 2017–2020
    2. Portland Trail Blazers: 2021
    3. Guangzhou Loong Lions (CBA): 2022
    4. Beijing Ducks (CBA): 2022–2024
    5. Nanjing Monkey Kings (CBA): 2024–Present
  • Achievements:
    • First-team All-Pac-12: 2017
    • Pac-12 All-Freshman Team: 2017
    • McDonald’s All-American: 2016

Personal Life:

  • Parents: Brad and Karen Leaf
  • Siblings: Two older brothers, Trent and Troy, and two younger sisters, Talia and Heaven
  • Children: Not publicly available

Player Archetype / Play Style

Ty Leaf’s player archetype is that of a skilled stretch four, an archetype built around face-up scoring, soft touch, and offensive versatility from the frontcourt. At 6-foot-10 and about 220 to 225 pounds, he had good size for a modern power forward, but his game leaned more on coordination, mobility, and feel than brute strength. Defensively, his role projected more as a team-oriented rebounder and positional frontcourt helper than a true stopper, with draft evaluations often pointing to questions about his strength, lateral quickness, and overall defensive ceiling. Offensively, he was at his best as a floor-spacing big who could score inside, run the floor, handle a bit, and make smart reads, which matched both his highly efficient freshman year at UCLA and the draft-era view of him as a polished offensive forward with perimeter-oriented skill. The overall play style was smooth and finesse-based: Leaf looked like the kind of big who could pressure defenses with skill, touch, and versatility rather than overpowering them physically. (UCLA)

Scouting Report

Ty Leaf always looked most natural when the game flowed through quick decisions rather than isolation scoring. The interesting thing is that people often remembered the shooting, but his feel as a connective offensive big was just as important. He read cutters well from the elbows, could slip a pass immediately after catching on the short roll and understood how to keep the ball moving before the defense had time to reset. As a scorer, he preferred attacking rotating defenses instead of creating against a set one. He could step into perimeter jumpers, put the ball on the floor for a couple of controlled dribbles and finish with touch around the basket, particularly when defenders closed out too aggressively. The trade-off was physicality. Against stronger frontcourts, establishing deep position and holding ground defensively became more difficult, and while he had enough mobility to hedge or briefly switch onto the perimeter, protecting the rim through traffic wasn’t a defining part of his game. What stands out is how often he tried to create offensive rhythm for everyone else instead of stopping possessions to search for his own shot. That style worked best when teammates rewarded his reads with purposeful movement. To me, his ideal role was as a skilled stretch big in an offense built around spacing, DHOs and multiple playmakers, where his shooting and passing could pull opposing centers away from the basket while his teammates attacked the gaps that opened behind them. Pair him with a physically imposing defensive center and aggressive downhill guards, and many of his strengths become easier to maximize because he can focus on facilitating, spacing the floor and attacking closeouts instead of carrying heavy interior responsibilities. His offensive approach had similarities to Frank Kaminsky, while elements of his passing and face-up game resembled Mike Muscala when he was used as a floor-spacing frontcourt connector rather than a traditional interior scorer.

Sources:

UCLA Athletics — MBKB_17MG_FULL.pdf
Sports Illustrated — Who is TJ Leaf? Scouting report, bio, analysis of NBA draft prospect
The Ringer — The Ringer’s 2017 NBA Draft Guide
ESPN — Pacers pick at No. 18: TJ Leaf, UCLA forward