How Will Jock Landale's Injury Impact The Hawks For the Regular Season and Perhaps The Playoffs?

The Hawks got unfortunate injury news today when it was announced that Jock Landale was going to be out for two weeks. How do they fill his shoes?

Mar 28, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Jock Landale (31) shoots the ball against Sacramento Kings forward Precious Achiuwa (9) during the third quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks are rolling along, having won 17 of their last 19 games and risen to 5th place in the Eastern Conference. There have been a number of reasons for Atlanta having gone on this run, but one of the factors is health. The Hawks have been a mostly healthy team over the course of the past two months, but they suffered an unfortunate blow last night in their win over the Orlando Magic.

Backup center Jock Landale was taken down on a blatant flagrant fould from Magic center Goga Bitadze, who was later ejected for the play, and it resulted in an ankle injury for Landale. The Hawks said in an update today that Landale is going to be out for at least two weeks and then he will be reevaluated.

That is an interesting window of time. The NBA regular season is over next Sunday and the playoffs are slated to begin on April 18th. If Landale is cleared two weeks from now, will he be ready to go (assuming Atlanta avoids the play-in tournament)?

For Atlanta's sake, they hope to have him back, but what do they do until then and in the event that he is not able to return in two weeks?

Hawks will have to trust depth

Mar 21, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye (18) reacts after a basket against the Golden State Warriors in the second quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

When Landale has been out recently, the Hawks have turned to Mouhamed Gueye as the backup center. The Hawks have always considered Gueye to be more of a forward then center, but the Hawks have used him because of his tremendous defensive ability.

This season, Gueye has played in 73 games (a career high) and is averaging 4.5 PPG and 3.6 RPG on an average of 15 MPG. Gueye is shooting 45% from the field and 31% from three.

Gueye is used when the Hawks want to have bigger llineups on the floor and he was particularly useful whenever Atlanta had to play Orlando this season. If he can knock down his open threes (teams tend to leave him open), then he is a dangerous threat on the court. If not, it can be tough for him to be left for major minutes.

This also opens the door for Christian Koloko, at least during the regular season. Players on two-way contracts cannot play in the playoffs, and if Landale is out beyond the start of the playoffs, then it will just be Gueye as the backup center.

If Landale is out when the playoffs begin, I would also expect Onyeka Okongwu to play major minutes, at least 35 and maybe more if Gueye is not playing well.

This is not a critical blow for the Hawks, but Landale had become an important piece of the team and other players are going to have to step up in his absence.