OKC Thunder: 3 season goals for T.J. Leaf in 2020-21

Earn more playing time.

The first metric that T.J. Leaf needs to improve on is the amount of court time he gets. In his career, he has never averaged more than 9.0 minutes per game over a single season. It is hard to display your skills in such short bursts per game.

In his 139 career games to date, Leaf has played 19 minutes or more just 11 times. The thing is that his numbers are not that bad when he is given the court time. He averaged 12.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 blocks, and 0.4 steals in 18.9 minutes per game.

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His percentages also stack up really well. Leaf shot the ball at 56.6 percent from the floor on 9.6 shots per game. From deep he eclipsed his college numbers, shooting the ball at 52.2 percent on 2.1 shot attempts per game.

Leaf also had a net rating of plus +four in these 11 games which means that he was not leaking points on defense either. He did have a number of players ahead of him on the Indiana Pacers roster but these metrics surely demanded more playing time.

During his time at the Thunder, it is probable that Leaf will come off the bench behind Darius Bazley. He will also be able to put in some decent minutes at center, depending on who the Thunder decide to waive.