Israeli-born T.J. Leaf Is Likely a First-Round Pick in Thursday's NBA Draft
When Brad Leaf went all the way from Indiana to Northern Israel in 1982 to play professional basketball, he came equipped with a Jewish certificate, granting him Israeli citizenship. This enabled him to play as a nationalized player for Hapoel Galil Elyon and later Maccabi. Seventeen years (and one Israeli MVP Award) later, Leaf left Israel as a basketball legend—and in retrospect nobody cares that he wasn’t actually Jewish and that the source of his papers was questionable (those were the wild ’80s and he played for a kibbutz team anyway). Now, his 20-year-old son, T.J., who was born in Tel Aviv, is headed to the NBA.
If he plays in an NBA game, the 6’10” forward and projected a first-round selection will be just the second Israeli-born NBA player in history to see minutes, following the footsteps of Omri Casspi (who was selected as the 23rd pick in the 2009 NBA Draft).
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