Christian Wood Vows To Come Back With A Vengeance In Warning Message To The NBA

The Lakers certainly would be hoping he returns with a vengeance. Wood last played a game for them on Feb. 14, 2024. The 28-year-old suffered a knee injury back then which was initially expected to only keep him out of action for a couple of weeks, but that didn't prove to be the case. 

Wood had to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in March and was ruled out indefinitely. He was eventually cleared to play in the latter stages of the first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, but never stepped out on the court and witnessed the Lakers lose in five games.

Would Wood's presence have made much of a difference in that series? Probably not, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt the Lakers to have another big body to throw at Nikola Jokic. 

Wood ended up featuring 50 times for the Lakers in 2023-24 and averaged 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. There were some moments of brilliance but some frustrating ones as well, which sums up his NBA career.

With there unlikely to be much of a market for him in free agency after an injury-hit season, Wood opted into his $3 million player option for 2024-25 to stay with the Lakers. The team might not be keeping him around for much longer, though. According to team insider Jovan Buha, the Lakers will most likely trade Wood.

If Wood does end up staying and remains healthy, it'll be interesting to see how big of a role he gets under new head coach JJ Redick. Following his hiring, Redick did reveal the Lakers would love to acquire a big man, and if they do, then I don't see Wood getting a lot of minutes next season.

Christian Wood Wanted To Destroy The False Narratives About Him

There have been a lot of concerns raised regarding Wood in recent years, as teams haven't shown a willingness to keep him around for a long time. He has been termed as a bit of a problem in the locker room and Wood wanted to destroy those false narratives about him.

“I think there's a lot of false narratives out there about me. I think I put up 17 and 9 or something like that and I signed for a vet minimum. I've seen a lot of talk of ‘Why is he going for the vet minimum? Maybe it's character issues, maybe it's this, maybe it's that.' But when you really look at it I've never had any problem on a team."

While Wood didn't cause any major problems for the Lakers, there was one somewhat troubling incident that took place in January earlier this year. When Anthony Davis was out for a game against the Atlanta Hawks due to injury, Jaxson Hayes got to start at center.

Wood appeared to take a shot at the Lakers on X for not giving him the start in Davis' absence. He later claimed it was just an accident, but it wasn't a good look for a man who has played for eight teams in eight seasons and needs to be on his best behavior at all times, to improve his reputation.