Jock Landale will miss at least two weeks with a right high-ankle sprain after Goga Bitadze grabbed and pulled him to the floor during the Hawks' 130-101 win over the Magic on Wednesday.
Jock Landale is going to miss at least two weeks. The Atlanta Hawks found that out Thursday, one day after losing him to a right high-ankle sprain in the middle of a blowout road win.
It happened with 7:30 left in the fourth quarter of Atlanta's 130-101 win on Wednesday at Kia Center. Landale went up under the basket, and Goga Bitadze grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him down. Landale hit the floor and reached immediately for his right leg.
Several Hawks players had to be pulled away from Bitadze before things escalated further. The officials went to the monitor and upgraded the call from a common foul to a flagrant foul 2. Bitadze was ejected with four points and five rebounds in 15 minutes.
Landale was helped off the court. He did not come back.
The Hawks won going away, so the result was never really in doubt. The next few weeks are a different story.
Landale, 30, has played his best basketball this season. Split between Memphis and Atlanta after coming over at the deadline as part of the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, he has appeared in 68 games and is putting up 10.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. He shoots 51.5 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from three. Those are career-best numbers across the board for the Australian big man out of Saint Mary's.
With the Hawks specifically, he carved out a role coming off the bench. He started only two of his 23 games in Atlanta, but averaged 19.4 minutes a night and shot 51.6 percent. Mouhamed Gueye will step into those minutes now. Onyeka Okungwu stays in the starting lineup at center.
Atlanta did not rule Landale out for the rest of the regular season, though with only 10 days left until April 12 and a two-week reevaluation window, it would be a surprise to see him before the playoffs.
The Hawks are 44-33 and fifth in the Eastern Conference, winners of 17 of their last 19. A top-six finish punches their ticket to the first round without a play-in game, which matters here because every extra day helps Landale's ankle.
He's also on a minimum deal and hits unrestricted free agency this summer. The injury does not help his situation on that front either.