The Phoenix Suns have one of the most expensive rosters in the NBA, and that’s in large part due to the fact that the team acquired Bradley Beal in the offseason to pair him with Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant. As such, Phoenix needed to find value wherever it could during free agency in order to build out a roster, with one guy viewed as an option in the frontcourt being Jock Landale.
A former undrafted free agent out of Saint Mary’s who started his professional career abroad before spending the 2021-22 season with the San Antonio Spurs, Landale turned into a reliable option off the bench behind Ayton. However, while there was widespread expectation he would be retained given the Suns relative lack of options for roster upgrades with their cap space, just before free agency opened, some surprising news broke that Phoenix was pulling Landale’s qualifying offer to make him an unrestricted free agent.
In a turn of events, Phoenix is planning to pull the qualifying offer for center Jock Landale, league sources told @YahooSports, which would make Landale a free agent.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 30, 2023
One day later and Landale became the latest player to make his way to the Houston Rockets. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Landale got a 4-year, $32 million deal from Houston, with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN bringing word that only the first year of the deal is guaranteed.
Free agent Jock Landale has agreed to a four-year, $32 million deal with the Houston Rockets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Agents Sammy Wloszczowski and Michael Lelchitski of @SIGSports negotiated the new contract for Landale.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2023
The Rockets agreed with free agent center Jock Landale on a four-year, $32M deal — with only the first season guaranteed, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2023
Landale, who will turn 28 in October, stuck around in Phoenix last season because of his energy and basketball IQ on both ends of the floor, and was able to do a reliable job whenever he was on the floor for Ayton. He appeared in 69 games during the regular season and appeared in the starting lineup four times. Landale averaged 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and one assist in 14.2 minutes per game and hit 52.8 percent of his field goal attempts.
