The lure of the NBA Draft has been strong with prep point guard Jalen Lecque for over a year.
Lecque made it official Wednesday that he was bypassing his chance to play at NC State and remain in the NBA Draft. The Rivals.com No. 40-ranked prospect in the class of 2019 was able to become the latest preps to pros prospect because he was 19 years old and spent a post-graduate year at Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy.
Lecque led Brewster Academy to the National Prep Championship in March to cap a 34-7 season. He averaged 12.6 points, 4.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks per game at Brewster. He fell in the Rivals. com rankings, but climbed or held steady on some NBA Draft projections. NBADraft.net has him ranked No. 57 and going to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Lecque had an NBA Combine-best 43-inch running vertical jump in Chicago in mid-May. The athletic point guard checked in at 6-foot-2 1/2 and 185.2 pounds with a 6-8 1/2 wingspan.
The Teaneck, N.J., native played at Arden (N.C.) Christ School for what turned out to be his senior year of high school. NC State coaches started to recruit him during the fall of 2017, and offered him a scholarship. Nearly a year later, he picked NC State over Tennessee in a low-key recruitment.
Lecque was expected to compete for minutes as Markell Johnson's backup, but also possibly play with Johnson, who withdrew from the NBA Draft last Friday.
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