Jock Landale

After giving up basketball as a junior, an extreme growth spurt over the course of his secondary school years saw Jock Landale regain his passion for the game and emerge as a highly-touted Australian prospect.

The Geelong Grammar School alum accepted an offer from St Mary’s College in the USA to play at the NCAA Division I level.

Once in California, Jock found a significant role for the team in his junior year. He averaged 16.9 points and 9.5 rebounds to lead St Mary’s to the 2017 NCAA tournament and was subsequently named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team.

The next season Jock averaged 21.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks as he was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year before declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft - at which he went undrafted.

Jock began his professional career with Belgrade-based side Partizan. In the ABA League he averaged 12 points, 5.6 rebounds per game and was named to the All-ABA League Team for his performances.

Following his first professional season Jock was included in the Australian squad for the 2019 World Cup.

As the side’s starting power forward he was an important piece to the Boomers squad, who narrowly missed out on a medal after a double-overtime semi-final loss against Spain, and a defeat to France in the third-place playoff.

After the World Cup Jock travelled to Lithuania to play with EuroLeague side Žalgiris Kaunas, averaging 11 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in his sole campaign for the side.

He returned home to sign with Melbourne United for the NBL’s 2020-21 season. After leading the top team of the league all year, Jock steered United to a Grand Final series sweep of the Perth Wildcats to be crowned the Grand Final series’ Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Jock finished the season averaging 16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds. 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocks per game to be named in the All-NBL First Team.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Jock and the Boomers lifted Australia to the bronze medal, defeating Slovenia in the bronze medal match 107-93.

The triple-Olympian helped achieved our nation's first men's basketball Olympic medal since Australia made its men's basketball Olympic debut in 1956.

Jock played all six matches for the Boomers and averaged 12.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.8 steals per game in 21.8 minutes.

His stellar play in Australia and Japan earned Jock his first NBA contract with the San Antonio Spurs for the 2021-22 season, where he played 54 games.

In the off-season he was traded twice, once to the Atlanta Hawks and then the Phoenix Suns, where he got more playing time in the 2022-23 season (69 games, 14.4 mins per game).

A year later Jock signed with the Houston Rockets on a four-year deal. His first season with the Rockets in 2023 Jock played 56 games in a reserve role, with three starts.

Jock missed the 2023 FIBA World Cup after suffering an ankle injury in a warm-up game.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Jock was the team's go to centre and the Boomers started on a strong note, defeating Spain 92-80 in what was regarded as the toughest group in the tournament.

Losses followed against Canada (93-83) and Greece (77-71) to close the group stage, setting up a quarter-finals clash against Serbia.

The Boomers pushed the Serbians into overtime on a Patty Mills made fadeaway jump shot over the outstretched hand of Nikola Jokic, that came with two seconds left in regulation time. Serbia took control of overtime (95-90), knocking Australia out of the tournament.

Jock played in every game averaging 14.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals in 28.3 minutes as a starter.