July 6: The Huff trade is official, according to the Grizzlies (Twitter link).
July 5: Free agent center Jock Landale has reached a contract agreement with the Grizzlies, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Memphis will make room on its roster by sending Jay Huff to the Pacers in exchange for a future second-round pick and a second-round pick swap, Charania adds (Twitter link).
Landale was waived by the Rockets on Thursday before his $8MM salary for the upcoming season became guaranteed. He was expected to be on the move on after Houston agreed to sign Clint Capela in free agency, adding to its center depth along with Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams.
The 29-year-old big man signed a four-year, $32MM contract with the Rockets in 2023 that contained just one fully guaranteed season. He appeared in 42 games this year, averaging 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per night.
Landale’s new contract with Memphis will cover one year at the veteran’s minimum, sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). He will provide another option for Memphis in light of Zach Edey‘s uncertain status after undergoing ankle surgery in June.
Indiana was able to pick up an additional big man in Huff after losing Myles Turner to Milwaukee earlier this week. The Pacers will be the fifth team in five years for the 26-year-old center, who is coming off his best NBA season. He appeared in 64 games for Memphis, averaging 6.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per night while shooting 51.5% from the field and 40.5% from three-point range.
Huff will make $2.4MM and $2.7MM over the next two seasons, and his contract includes a $3MM player option for 2027/28.
The draft choice headed to Memphis will be a 2029 second-rounder that originally belonged to Portland, while the option for the second-round pick swap will take place in 2031, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Huff can actually play. I remember his couple of games with Washington a few years back, he looked promising.
Had a good season in Memphis.
But he’s a shooter and dangles around the perimeter, and as a result doesn’t rebound. Indiana just don’t like good rebounders, it seems, lol. Anyway, good value for them. The guy has a good timing for blocks and doesn’t foul too much.
A decent cheap option to take some of the minutes left by Turner.
Brilliant and correct – the Pacers have intentionally underutilised every true big man they have had. It’s a team philosophy. Recents have been Mahinmi, Goga, Theis, etc and all were disgruntled (and under talented)…
Yea, not sure I understand this for MEM. With Edey out to start the year, they could’ve used both Huff and Landale to hold down the fort. Like you said Huff looked good when MEM went up tempo and was fairly efficient. They could go for:
CHI Vuc for Anthony, Konchar, Vince W
WAS Olynyk for Anthony
NYK Mitch for Anthony
ORL Goga for Clarke
NYK Adams for Anthony
Huff could do a fair job of imitating Turner – he actually had more pts and blocks per 100 possessions despite shooting way fewer threes. Definitely a good pickup by the Pacers.
Huff also moves very well, for his size, he did not look out of place in that Memphis team that played fast. I’m sure Indiana were looking at that when looking at him. And he’s 7’0.5″ without shoes, so a legit 7-footer and has 2-3 inches on many “seven-footers” in the league.
Good scouting by Indiana.
If the Rockets had kept JOCK
they would have been STRAPPED !!
Interesting. Fits into the Wiseman TPE.
Huff, another one the Lakers let go for nothing. Granted he wasn’t much at the time, they saw enough to bring him in and now Indiana must see him as a possible 20 minute per game stretch big. Pelinka is terrible at his job. The Walter ownership group will have to create a real front office for LA to survive the post-LeBron years.
I’ve been a Jay Huff fan for a few years now, and I think he is a useful option for them at the 5, having Siakam or Walker at the 4 defensively next to him
Huh? Huff is good and young. Landale is a 3rd string center and 29. This trade makes zero sense to me.
Huff is also a 3rd string center. They weren’t traded for each other.
Not directly traded for one another, but in effect traded for one another. They had to move huff to open the roster spot to sign landale.
They got a 2nd for Huff which is basically what he’s worth.
Surprised Grizz got rid of Huff. Maybe he didn’t waive anround enough guns around like Ja so they thought he was against the second amendment unlike most in TN.
Jay Huff is a good stretch big, who spaces the floor. Jack Lockdale has no range, so this trade makes absolutely no sense for the Grizzles who lack 3 point shooting.
Landale is also a stretch big. He hit 42% from three (11-26) last year.
They got a 2nd in return for a player that has played 912 minutes in four years.
Landale’s stronger build probably fits better next to JJJ than Huff does. Huff is a horrendous rebounder, which means he can’t be played with JJJ. Hence why Huff only played 748 minutes last season despite injuries to both Edey and Clarke.
Its a great value for the Pacers (especially given the disaster of losing Turner), but the Grizzlies were never looking at Huff as a full-time rotation player.
Huff is a guy I’ve had my eyes on for years now because he can really play, & i feel he’s mostly been overlooked. I think in Memphis there just wasn’t quite enough minutes available for him with their depth.
This should be a very low risk but substantially high upside for at least partially filling turners role for 18 to 20 mpg game. I think Huff is a smart player who’s legit 7ft with good mobility & the ability to hit 3’s efficiently while also being a pretty phenomenal shot blocker when given minutes. He kinda reminds me of Kornet when he used to launch 3’s. I think this was a very smart under the radar pick up for Indiana
I love the way they play & construct teams.