Tag: jalen lecque

Houston’s G League affiliate, Rio Grande Valley, announces 2022-23 roster

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers, NBA G League affiliate of the #Rockets, have announced their official roster for the 2022-23 season. Here’s a rundown of the squad.

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers, official NBA G League affiliate organization of the Houston Rockets, have finalized their roster for the upcoming 2022-23 season. The full schedule for the Vipers, defending G League champions, is available here and begins with a road opener at Mexico City on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Excluding players who are sent down from the parent NBA club, players at RGV do not have NBA contracts and are thus eligible to be signed by any NBA team. However, because the Vipers are led by coaches and systems affiliated with the Rockets, Houston will have a much closer look and more intimate knowledge regarding whether a given prospect is potentially a good fit with the parent club.

The Vipers’ roster includes returning players Trhae Mitchell, Kahlil Whitney, and Ray Spalding. RGV’s roster now stands at 12 players, including two-way players Darius Days and Trevor Hudgins. Unlike most players, Days and Hudgins are under contract with the Rockets, which prevents them from being signed by another team.

Scroll on for an biographical look (in alphabetical order) at the initial Vipers roster, which features multiple players with NBA experience and also includes rookie guard Eron Gordon — yes, the younger brother of veteran Rockets guard Eric Gordon.

OKC added 3 players this offseason who left or decommitted from NC State

Oklahoma City Thunder signed Omer Yurtseven and Josh Hall and traded for (and away) Jalen Lecque, all of whom have NC State connections.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s roster has been a whirlwind of change over the last month, and inside that storm is one rather strange anomaly.

This offseason, the Thunder have added three different players who have either transferred or decommitted from North Carolina State. Two of them remain on the team while one was quickly traded away after being acquired.

Omer Yurtseven, signed as an undrafted free agent, played at NC State from 2016-18 before transferring to Georgetown. While with the Wolfpack, Yurtseven averaged about 10 points and six rebounds per game and shot 54.2% from the field, with his numbers dramatically improving as a sophomore.

Josh Hall, also added to the Thunder as an undrafted free agent, was committed to NC State but entered the draft out of high school instead. As a 19-year-old and fifth-yer prep player, he was eligible for the NBA draft coming out of Moravian Prep.

This was the second year in a row the Wolfpack lost the commitment of a star high school prospect.

In 2019, Jalen Lecque entered the draft out of Brewster Academy instead of going through with his NC State commitment. Lecque was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Phoenix Suns and played for the organization last season before being traded to the Thunder as part of the Chris Paul trade.

Lecque is no longer with the Thunder, as he was traded to the Indiana Pacers for T.J. Leaf and a second-round draft pick, but the coincidental nature of Oklahoma City adding three players who left NC State hanging remains strange.

Last season, there were four former NC State players in the NBA according to Basketball RealGM, not including G League players. Lecque is actually now in the same organization as one of them, T.J. Warren.

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The Thunder have now started collecting 2027 draft picks; get 2nd-rounder in Pacers trade

As part of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers trade involving T.J. Leaf and Jalen Lecque, OKC got yet another draft pick.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have started an arms war for draft picks over the next half-decade.

They just got a head start on their 2027 collection.

As part of the Jalen Lecque trade for T.J. Leaf, the Thunder also acquired a 2027 second-round draft pick from the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City announced Wednesday.

They now have picks from other teams in every single draft from now through 2027.

LIST: See all the Thunder’s future draft picks

Leaf was a first-round pick in 2018 but only played 28 games last year. Owed $4.3 million this season, the final of his contract before he hits restricted free agency, the Pacers used the second-round draft pick to incentivize Oklahoma City to take him for Lecque, who is on a $1.5 million contract and is on the final fully guaranteed year of his deal.

Over Leaf’s career, the power forward has averaged 3.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game. He has shot 49.1% from the field on 2.9 field goal attempts per game.

The Thunder will have a year to see if they’d like to bring him back, and almost seven years to decide who they’d like to draft. Some middle schooler was just traded to Oklahoma City.

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Report: Thunder acquire T.J. Leaf, second-round pick for Jalen Lecque

The Oklahoma City Thunder have reportedly traded another player from the Chris Paul deal, sending Jalen Lecque to the Pacers for T.J. Leaf.

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Sam Presti is not done yet.

On Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to trade guard Jalen Lecque to the Indiana Pacers for T.J. Leaf and a second-round draft pick, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Lecque was part of the Chris Paul trade to the Phoenix Suns. The 20-year-old guard, who entered the league last season as an undrafted free agent out of high school, spent almost all year in the G League.

He is likely to spend more time in the developmental program before reaching the NBA full-time. In exchange for Lecque, the Thunder got Leaf.

A first-round pick in 2018, Leaf played more than 50 games in both of his first two seasons but was unable to carve out any sort of role last year, playing in only 28 games.

Over his career, Leaf has averaged 3.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game. He shoots 49.1% from the field on 2.9 field goal attempts per game.

Leaf is still 23 years old, so he fits the age range of the players Oklahoma City is targeting for a rebuild. However, he is entering the fourth year of his contract and will be owed $4.3 million this season. He will be a restricted free agent next year.

Listed at 6-foot-10, Leaf will fight for a role in the rotation as a backup big and be in the mix for a spot at the 4 or 5.

It was not specified when the second-round pick will be conveyed.

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Thunder to trade Chris Paul to Suns for Kelly Oubre Jr. and others

The Thunder will reportedly receive Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick.

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With the transactional moratorium period lifted by the NBA ahead of the 2020-21 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly struck a deal on Monday to send Chris Paul and Abdel Nader to the Phoenix Suns, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Thunder will receive Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick. The pick the Thunder will receive is reportedly top-12 protected in 2022, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Oklahoma City had been working with Paul to find a potential destination for the future Hall of Famer. Paul turned in an All-Star season with the Thunder, averaging 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and five rebounds in 70 games played last season.

The Suns proved to be aggressive in their pursuit of adding Paul after sending two cornerstone players in Oubre and Rubio while including young players in Jerome and Lecque. The organization is looking to take the next step in its development and believes Paul can be key to get there.

The trade of Paul comes just one day after the Thunder agreed to send Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers for Danny Green and the 28th pick in the NBA draft. Oklahoma City is looking to rebuild and has amassed as many as 17 draft picks over the next six years.

The NBA draft is scheduled to begin Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.

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Suns’ Jalen Lecque now represented by Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul

Phoenix Suns rookie guard Jalen Lecque, a former NC State commit, has switched agents and is now represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.

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Phoenix Suns rookie guard Jalen Lecque, a former NC State commit, has switched agents and is now represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.

Paul represents NBA superstars including LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Ben Simmons. Lecque joins Trae Young, Lonzo Ball, Jusuf Nurkic, Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby, Malik Beasley and Ben McLemore as players who have switched to Klutch since the beginning of 2019.

The news about Lecque was first shared via Twitter and was then confirmed by a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s LeBron Wire on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Lecque, 20, was a four-star recruit coming out of high school at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. He was ranked the No. 41 overall prospect in the nation by 247 Sports in the Class of 2019.

The 6-foot-3 guard, however, opted to forego the collegiate process and enter the 2019 NBA Draft. Lecque was invited to the 2019 NBA Draft Combine, where he recorded the best vertical leap (43 inches) among all participants.

While he was not selected in the draft, he secured a three-year deal from the Phoenix Suns. The first two years of the contract were guaranteed for $2.4 million, as negotiated by his former agent Austin Walton of NEXT Sports.

Despite going undrafted, the average annual value of his contract was more lucrative than the majority of players selected in the second round. In fact, there were more than half a dozen prospects who heard their name called on draft night but later signed two-way deals with their franchises.

He was part of a new trend among players (e.g. Toronto’s Terence Davis, Minnesota’s Naz Reid) that went undrafted but still ended up with a more secure contract than they may have been offered if drafted.

Lecque played 33 games for the Northern Arizona Suns, averaging 13.3 points with 3.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He also made occasional appearances in the NBA, becoming the sixth-youngest player on a roster in 2019-20.

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Jalen Lecque threw down an unreal dunk Saturday in the G League

“Baby Westbrook” once again showed off his hops on Saturday night after jamming down a monstrous dunk with the NAZ Suns.

Phoenix Suns rookie Jalen Lecque had social media talking Saturday night after a dunk on assignment in the G League with the Northern Arizona Suns.

The undrafted guard, who has been nicknamed “Baby Westbrook” given his elite athleticism, finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists in the 117-113 loss to the Agua Caliente Clippers but it was his dunk that had everyone buzzing.

In the second quarter, Lecque was leading a fastbreak opportunity and found himself in a 1-on-1 situation near the foul line. Instead of making a move around the defender, Lecque loaded up and took off toward the rim.

Lecque has spent the majority of the season in the G League with Northern Arizona as the organization looks for the rookie to continue to develop. In 21 games played, Lecque is averaging 13.4 points, three rebounds and 2.9 assists.

Lecque has logged just one appearance in the NBA this season.

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Dasean Lecque driven by older brother Jalen’s journey to the Suns

Jalen Lecque’s family moved out to Arizona with him when he joined the Phoenix Suns. Now his brother, Dasean, plays at Desert Vista High School.

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It was a shock at first, coming from New Jersey to Phoenix, leaving behind close friends and the intense basketball competition that sharpened his skills on the court.

But it’s a move the Lecque family felt it needed to make to be close to Jalen, a 19-year-old beginning his pro basketball journey with the Suns on their G-League team in Prescott Valley.

Dasean Lecque, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, was all-in.

“We’re out here to support him basically,” Lecque said.

When Jalen isn’t playing for the Northern Arizona Suns, he’s watching Dasean play at Desert Vista High School (Phoenix).

Dasean Lecque is a few inches shorter than his 6-foot-4 brother, but he has the same tenacity and fearlessness.

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He poured in 24 points in his Arizona high school debut and entered Saturday night’s Fear The Hop Championship game against host Mesa averaging 24 points in three games. Lecque had 30 points in a 112-79 win over Queen Creek Casteel, making 12 of 19 field goals, and handing out four assists.

“It was tough,” Lecque said about the move more than two months ago. “I had a lot of friends out there. It’s real tough out there. The competition. There are a lot of guards like me.”

Lecque could be the key addition that leads the Thunder to a state title this year. He is surrounded by size he didn’t see on teams he played on in New Jersey.

Read the rest of the story at the Arizona Republic.