Part of the reason it took Christian Wood so long to find a new team in free agency is he was waiting to see what would happen with the trade requests made by Damian Lillard and James Harden, sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
As Buha explains, Wood might have found an opportunity for more playing time and/or more money had one of the stars been moved, but since there hasn’t been much — if any — traction in either of those situations, he decided to join the Lakers on a two-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum (the second year is a player option).
Team sources tell Buha the “early expectation” is that Wood will come off the bench as L.A.’s primary backup center, with Rui Hachimura likely to start in the frontcourt alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Wood’s ability to space the floor should open up some two-big pairings, with Davis sliding down to power forward at times after spending last season exclusively playing center.
Wood’s addition could also reduce the minutes and roles of Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaxson Hayes, Buha adds. Vanderbilt was a rotation regular after being acquired from Utah in February, while Hayes signed as a free agent this summer after spending the past four seasons with New Orleans.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In a statement to Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link), Wood says his relationship with head coach Darvin Ham — the two briefly worked together on the Bucks — was a factor in signing with the Lakers. “We’ve had great conversations everyday about this opportunity,” Wood wrote. “He believes in me and told me I’ll be playing a big role and knows what I can do.” The former Mavericks big man added that he was “motivated after what Dallas did,” though he didn’t specify what he meant.
- While there are some risks to signing Wood, the Lakers believe they’re the right organization to bring out the best in the talented scorer, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Having better defensive personnel around Wood might help mitigate some of his shortcomings on that end, Woike notes.
- The Lakers prioritized finding depth at center because Davis told the team he didn’t want to spend all his regular-season minutes manning the middle, sources tell ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Davis signed a three-year, maximum-salary extension last month to remain with L.A. long term, so there was motivation from both sides to find another big man to help ease his workload.
Yeah I’m sure it was his relationship with Darvin Ham that forced him there…lmao
At the minimum salary he’s at, he probably had half a dozen teams looking at him, lol. It’s not like the Lakers gave him a big contract. Dude’s limited, but his scoring punch is real.
Wow Darvin Ham told Wood he would be playing a big role? Ouch, already lying to the dude.
He might start out as the first big man Off the Bench but with Davis playing 35 minutes the scoring will be taken care of so what will Wood do? He’ll be sitting on the bench and riding the pine after the first month and a half of the year.
Then he’ll pout, disrupt the locker room, and be traded away at the deadline. But of course with the second year player option it won’t be easy so they’ll have to attach a pic or money or something.
This is strictly an insurance policy signing and playing a big role has zero to do with it. Coach must know inevitably Davis will go down and the Lakers are in win now mode so Christian Wood is a nice scoring Center to fill the gap for street clothes.
Easily the most reductive take I’ve ever seen from you. Congrats, you sound like 8Rings.
Wood has value as a floor-spacing big who allows AD to roam on D like he did during the postseason. Wood sitting in the paint with AD playing in drop coverage or on the wing isn’t a bad defensive alignment. Honestly, given that Wood is best at contests when he doesn’t have to switch much, it’s a good defensive alignment. The problem with playing him that way in Dallas is that the Mavs didn’t have good frontcourt complements (and also Jason Kidd isn’t a great coach). It was basically Kleber and that’s it.
Also, Vanderbilt can’t score worth crap and Rui isn’t always consistent. It’s not hard to see a world where Wood plays 20-25 minutes a game.
Finally, it’s very likely the Lakers will look to curtail LeBron and AD’s minutes to reduce the likelihood of injury. Neither one is going to play as much as they did during the first half of last season.
Eon I didn’t realize you were Laker fan. I thought you were just an overall NBA well informed fan who generally posts well thought out comments. I mean no disrespect to the Lakers, just giving my thoughts on how this particular signing will play out. No harm intended or offense meant.
And an 8Rings comparison? Wow, the lowest of all low blows.
I’m not a Lakers fan (Cavs fan), but that wasn’t a good take. Wood has his obvious issues, but that was like taking every bad take about him and the Lakers and putting them into a word salad. I hate it when otherwise intelligent guys stoop to terrible and misinformed takes, so I overreacted, lol.
Let me see if I can explain my thought process more clearly.
The quitting comment: He didn’t quit on the Mavs, Kidd benched him after they got Irving because he wasn’t willing to play two defensively weak players alongside their defensively weak superstar Luka. And it’s not like he’s the world’s worst defender the way people think.
His value: His issues were magnified in Dallas because they had a grand total of two defensive players, one of which was injured and the other got traded for Kyrie, but he does have positive defensive numbers close to the basket. It’s always been that way. He just isn’t a good defensive *anchor* because he can’t switch effectively. In LA, he doesn’t have to even come close to that, as they can play him alongside Vando or AD at all times. He’s not any worse at rim protection than Thomas Bryant.
Disruption in the locker room: This team weathered Russ being absolute a** and not having any fit with the team. They now have the ability to mix-and-match for almost every position, so that’s a non-factor. And Wood’s only real bust-up with teammates was in Houston, started by KPJ literally throwing stuff at him. He was totally willing to accept a lesser role in Dallas, and only started to express discontent when Kidd refused to play him at all. Ham isn’t going to do that, and they don’t have Mark Cuban breathing down Ham’s neck either. If they have to trade him, they won’t have to attach anything because he’s a minimum guy, lol. They can literally trade him for an empty beer can.
You’re right on the comp, that was too far. I need to save that for the worst of the worst, lol xD
Good stuff Eon. I appreciate your regular contributions here. You’re definitely not alone in thinking I have consistently crappy takes. I think I’m muted by 7 or 8 guys, so that says something.
I don’t mean to be as combative as I can come across, Gary. I have a lot of crap going on at all times, so I tend to get testy even when I should just explain things calmly.
I’m sorry for being rude.
EDIT: Also, your takes aren’t bad. Sometimes a little incomplete, but it’s rare that you’re just wrong. And sometimes I don’t agree, but I can at least understand where you’re coming from most of the time.
No no I don’t find you combative. I enjoy what you write. I’m so easy going that I don’t get offended. But I do have strong basketball opinions and I throw them out there from time to time. It’s all good !! I can take a beating and I appreciate any attention that comes my way good or bad.
Good stuff bro, thank you for the very kind words, and I look forward to the next one. Go Cavs !!
Jason timpf just did a great video on Wood
Little nugget I learned was Wood was the best player ( in entire league ) in pnr last year . A staple to the Lakers system and DLo in particular
He was also top 25% in catch and shoot and help defense
If you like analytics delivered from an ex player / current coach check out Timpf’s work on YouTube , it’s non bias top notch stuff
Get a room you two :p
Bruh
Easy to spout off when there is zero accountability if you are wrong. Keyboard warrioring at its best
Been here 10 years. Same username. Come talk to me in January. I’m just as curious to see how this plays out as anyone.
Waiting to see who will end up starting at the 4. Rui is probably going to (at least for the first part of the season), but I could see Wood startint if he plays well and AD slid to the 4 – although that might just be their closing lineup and nothing else. I wouldn’t count Vando out though, while he is limited offensively the defense he brings was vital for the Lakers’ #1 D post-trade deadline, and I feel Rui is better coming off the bench ans giving some offensive punch and energy there.