Sixers Sign Christian Wood

SEPTEMBER 14TH, 5:47pm: Wood has put pen to paper with the Sixers, his agents at ASM reveal via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). The team has yet to make an announcement.

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1:54pm: The partial guarantee is worth $50K, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

3:40pm: The deal is for four years, and it includes a partial guarantee, tweets Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine.

SEPTEMBER 7TH, 11:41am: The Sixers have reached agreement with undrafted UNLV power forward Christian Wood, agent Matt Ramker announced via Twitter. Wood was reportedly to have signed a partially guaranteed contract with the Rockets, but it appears that’s not happening. The 6’11” Wood, who turns 20 later this month, was one of the most heralded prospects not to be selected in June’s draft.

Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked Wood the 25th-best prospect right before the draft this year, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him at No. 38, but subpar performances in predraft workouts caused his stock to fall, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports wrote when it appeared Wood was on his way to the Rockets. He averaged a double-double as a sophomore this past season at UNLV, posting 15.7 points and 10.0 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game. He put up 6.5 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 14.6 MPG across four appearances for the Rockets in summer league. It’s not surprising to see Philly jump into the mix for a player in whom Houston had interest, since Sixers GM Sam Hinkie used to work under Rockets GM Daryl Morey.

The move injects some doubt into another deal agreed upon shortly after the draft. Philadelphia reportedly already had contracts or verbal agreements with 20 players before striking the deal with Wood, and teams can’t bring more than 20 players to training camp. The Sixers have reportedly intended to sign T.J. McConnell to a partially guaranteed deal after he went undrafted out of Arizona. Jordan McRae and J.P. Tokoto have also appeared on their way to Sixers camp, but those arrangements appear in jeopardy for now. Still, the Sixers could clear room for all of them if they trade or release other players already on signed contracts.

The Rockets recently broke off a partially guaranteed deal with Chuck Hayes, so it wouldn’t be altogether surprising if the same circumstances surrounding that dissolution are at play with Wood. Houston would trigger a hard cap if it signs No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell for more than the minimum or for more than two years, and the Rockets are perilously close to that hard cap amount, as I examined in depth earlier in the offseason. Clearing partially guaranteed agreements would help the Rockets secure Harrell on a long-term deal, maintain flexibility and reduce their luxury tax bill.

Do you think Wood will make the Rockets and the teams that passed him up in the draft regret their choices? Leave a comment to tell us.

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