The NBA Trade Deadline passed on Thursday afternoon, and after one of the busiest trade seasons in history, the Utah Jazz got back to business on the road in Atlanta.
They immediately faced off with Jock Landale, who, after the trade with Memphis that went down on Wednesday, appeared to be heading to Utah.
And then he wasn't. Ultimately, the Jazz rerouted Landale to Atlanta earlier on Thursday, just hours before the Jazz and Hawks would tip off. Landale's trade was finalized in time for him to suit up for the Hawks, and he ended up in the starting lineup.
And immediately, it appeared Jock Landale had a message for the Utah Jazz, as he coined himself a 'Jazz killer' with 17 first-half points. Not only that, he helped the Hawks make it a game as they led 61-60 at the half over the visiting Jazz.
When the Jaren Jackson Jr. deal was announced, one of the benefits appeared to be finally getting a reserve big man who was capable of helping out Jusuf Nurkic. That would have been Jock Landale, had he ever appeared in a Jazz uniform.
Instead, the Jazz's quest to fix the big man rotation now revolves solely around Jaren Jackson Jr. and the questions on whether he should play significant minutes over the second half of the season.
The Jazz should have thought this one through
In a league where capable big men are tough to acquire, the Jazz may have dropped the ball on this one. Jock Landale would have shored up their rebounding, defense, and provided better scoring than what they are currently getting from Kyle Filipowski and Kevin Love, as reserve centers.
Now, some might say that the Jazz are still in tanking mode, for the remainder of this season, and the moves they made this week were for the 2026-27 season. So it makes sense to move off a valuable reserve big man now, and to continue losing games.
Landale (along with JJJ) might have helped the Jazz win a few TOO many games and move out of the bottom eight, resulting in losing their first-round pick to Oklahoma City this summer.
And Thursday's revenge game from Jock Landale proved that to be true, as he had 26 points, 11 boards, five assists, and a game-high four blocked shots in Atlanta's 121-119 win over the Jazz, to show them what they passed on getting at the trade deadline.