Jock Landale

Jock Landale is the NBA career that Australian basketball purists love to cite as proof that the path to the world’s best league does not require being a lottery pick — it requires being bloody good at the fundamentals and refusing to accept that the door is closed. Born on October 25, 1995, in Melbourne, Landale took the scenic route: college at Saint Mary’s in California, stints in the NBL with Melbourne United and in Europe, before earning his NBA opportunity through the sheer, stubborn insistence of his talent.

Landale spent 2024-25 with the Houston Rockets, appearing in 42 games off the bench and averaging 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 53.3% from the field and a remarkable 42.3% from three-point range. A centre who shoots threes at that clip is a modern NBA luxury, and Landale’s ability to stretch the floor, set screens, and make intelligent passes made him a valuable cog in a Rockets machine that earned the second seed in the West. Those are not flashy numbers. They are winning numbers.

For 2025-26, Landale signed with the Memphis Grizzlies with a projected starting role — the biggest opportunity of his NBA career, and one earned through years of proving his worth at every level of professional basketball. The Melbourne-born big man represents the best of Australian basketball: toughness that does not announce itself, intelligence that reveals itself in the details, and a team-first mentality that coaches trust implicitly. A proud Boomers representative at the Olympics and World Cup, Landale is the kind of player championship teams need and smart organisations value.

Career Statistics

Player Profile

Jock Landale plays centre for the Memphis Grizzlies and is about to receive the biggest opportunity of his NBA career — a projected starting role in a franchise with genuine ambitions. The Melbourne-born big man brings efficient shooting, toughness earned through years of proving doubters wrong, and the kind of team-first mentality that coaches would bottle and sell if they could. A proud Boomers representative, Landale is the embodiment of the Australian basketball ethos: work harder than everyone else, complain less, and let your game do the talking.

VS — Chief sports columnist, australiafootball.com