Former NBA player Jock Landale is prioritizing a return to the league instead of playing overseas next season, he told Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter link).
“My sole focus is on making this offseason count because it’s time I’ll never get back… that’s all in the lead-up to hopefully signing an NBA contract in October,” Landale said. “I feel ready.”
Landale remains under contract with Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania through 2021, but the Australian big man isn’t expected to continue with the team. Landale averaged 11 points, 4.4 rebounds and 20.6 minutes in 25 EuroLeague games last season. He shot 53% from the floor and 30% from downtown.
Landale, 24, went undrafted in 2018 after spending four seasons at Saint Mary’s College. He signed with the Hawks for summer league shortly after going undrafted, later signing in Serbia that summer. He played stateside with the Bucks during summer league last year.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The Chinese Basketball Association is set to start allowing fans to attend games, according to an ESPN.com article. The CBA will let a limited amount of fans into games on Sunday before opening for the public on July 31. Fans will be required to buy tickets online within 48 hours of testing negative for coronavirus, the league said in a release.
- Free agent Nate Wolters has reached agreement on a one-year deal with UNICS Kazan in Russia, the team announced on social media. Wolters averaged 7.5 points and 2.6 assists with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague last year, making past NBA stops with the Bucks, Pelicans and Jazz.
- The NBA has named Oris Stuart as the league’s Chief People and Inclusion Officer, announcing the news in a press release. Stuart will begin the role on August 15, leading the combined Human Resources and Diversity and Inclusion groups. He’ll oversee diversity strategies for the NBA, WNBA and other associated leagues, holding a goal of expanding programs to increase the representation of people of color and women in various leadership roles.
I’m a huge athletic supporter of JOCK !!
JOCK will be able to hold his own !!
Playing in the summer league doesn’t really make you a “former NBA player” at all. That’s not meant to impugn Lambert, but I mean come on, even he wouldn’t refer to himself as a former NBA player right now. Except maybe to women, but it’s okay, and even expected, to lie in that circumstance
It’s a fair point, certainly more constructive than the jokes about his name.