INDIANAPOLIS – Head coach Nate McMillan and team president Kevin Pritchard flanked T.J. Leaf as the Indiana Pacers introduced their first round draft pick Friday afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. But his parents introduced T.J. to Indiana long ago. He says Indiana has been a second home.
"Both my parents are from here," said T.J. "I spent basically all my summers growing up here. I have a lot of family here still. So it just feels like if I belong somewhere, it would be here."
T.J.'s father Brad is from Indianapolis. Mother Karen is from Evansville.
"Growing up, that's all they talked about was Indiana, Indiana, Indiana," said T.J. "Anything from Colts to Pacers, IU - so I definitely have a great feel for it, even in high school basketball is such a huge deal here. So I can't wait to get out here and really get a better feel for it."
Brad played at North Central and Lawrence North High Schools before starring at The University of Evansville. Brad was inducted into the Purple Aces Hall of Fame in 1988. He ranks 7th in program history in scoring with 1,605 points. Brad was drafted in the 7th round by the Pacers in 1982 before playing 17 years professionally in Israel.
"He's brainwashed like he said," Brad said. "He's heard Indiana from me and his mom since whenever he could start dribbling a basketball. I know he's real excited. I know that he wanted to come here and I know that we wanted him to come here."
TJ is the youngest, but at 6-foot-10 and 222 pounds, the biggest of four siblings.
"He is very mild mannered except when he's competing on the basketball court," said Karen. "He's very smart, but doesn't let on that he's really smart. He was probably the quietest of my four children."
T.J.’s immediate family was with him in the green room at the NBA Draft in Brooklyn, New York, Thursday night to hear his name announced 18th overall by Commissioner Adam Silver.
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"Until you sit there and you have a son it's hard to explain," said Brad. "It's gut wrenching. It's exciting. It's anxiety. It's like, 'What happens if they don't take him at 18 in Indiana? Then what's going to happen?' So it was everything wrapped up."
"The whole process is just surreal," said Karen. "I know that's an overused word, but it's so true. I know that all my family in Evansville was having a huge draft party. They were cheering and jumping up and down. I think we believed it more than they believed it could actually happen."
T.J. was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. The family moved back to the United States when he was two-and-a-half years old and settled in California. Brad coached T.J. at Foothills Christian High School in El Cajon.
"He’s molded me into the player that I am today and the man," said T.J. "Just my versatility, a lot of that comes from him, how I play the game the right way and my IQ."
But the one-on-one matchups ended before high school.
"He quit before I was able to beat him," said T.J. "Technically I haven't beat him to this day. But it was around 8th grade when he stopped playing me I guess you could say."
Leaf played just one year at UCLA for former IU star and Indiana Mr. Basketball Steve Alford. Leaf led the Bruins in scoring at 16.3 points a game, better than Lonzo Ball, drafted 2nd overall by the Lakers.
One of T.J.’s older brothers, Troy, also attended the introductory news conference in Indianapolis Friday. Troy was an NABC Division II All-America guard at Azusa Pacific in 2015. Troy plans to live with T.J. in Indianapolis.
