TJ Leaf’s current contract
TJ Leaf is currently on a rookie scale contract. He signed a four-year deal worth $11,576,025 in total if he makes it through the entire deal.
The reason that qualifier is necessary is that the deal, like all rookie scale contracts for first round picks, comes with two team options. One of them comes after the second season and the other one after the third.
TJ Leaf is entering year two of the deal this coming season. He will make $2,407,560. None of that is surprising.
Next year, Leaf is due to make $2,813,280, and the final year of his deal is valued at $4,326,825. The Pacers have until October 31st to decide if they want to pick up TJ Leaf’s third-year option or let him walk and not pay him $2.8 million in 2019. They have until October 31st, 2019 to decide about the final season of the contract. In short, they have time.
If Leaf doesn’t show signs of improvement, it isn’t unreasonable to think that the Pacers decline his fourth-year option and let him flock into free agency after three seasons, a la Solomon Hill. But we have some time to see how he plays before the team has to make that decision.