Jock Landale didn’t just arrive in Atlanta like a normal trade-deadline addition. He showed up like a guy who’d been personally offended by the concept of “waiting around.”
Faced with the kind of scheduling squeeze the deadline loves to create, Landale explained after the game that he chose to drive from Memphis to Atlanta rather than fly because he wanted to give himself the best chance to play the very next night.
“I kind of said, if I’m looking to play that next night, I want to get there as soon as possible. So I loaded up the truck and hit the road,” he said.
Jock Landale said that the Hawks offered to fly him to Atlanta this morning but he opted to do a 5.5 hr drive from Memphis instead last night. “I kind of said, if I’m looking to play that next night, I want to get there as soon as possible. So loaded up the truck & hit the road”
— Lauren L. Williams (@WilliamsLaurenL) February 6, 2026
Then he backed it up with the sort of debut that makes you double-check whether the box score is real.
In his first game with the Hawks on February 5, Landale posted 26 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks in Atlanta’s 121–119 win over the Utah Jazz, shooting 10-for-14 from the field and 5-for-8 from three. Those five made threes were a career high, which is an especially funny detail for a center whose night started with a moving-truck mindset.
Jock Landale had a CAREER NIGHT in his debut with the Hawks 🔥
26 PTS (ties career-high)
11 REB
5 AST
4 BLK
5 3PMHe joins Glenn Robinson as the only Hawks players to record 25+ PTS, 10+ REB and 5+ AST in their debut with the franchise! pic.twitter.com/TTwpiLAbTz
— NBA (@NBA) February 6, 2026
The broader context makes it even more perfect. Trade-deadline week is basketball’s annual reminder that the league is equal parts sport and logistics: players swapping cities, learning play calls on the fly, finding out where the coffee machine is in a new facility, and, occasionally, deciding the fastest way to get to work is to simply drive yourself there. Landale joined the Hawks in time for a morning shootaround and then started that same day, which tells you everything about how quickly this all came together.
Landale’s line also tied his career high in points, but it wasn’t empty calories. He hit a big three late, protected the rim, and generally looked like someone who’d been waiting for an excuse to do everything on an NBA floor in one night.
