After a long period of consideration, the Los Angeles Lakers finally “spent money” on Christian Wood, a former Dallas Mavericks player and Luka’s effective assistant.
According to information from reputable journalist Adrian Wojnarowski on the morning of September 6 (Vietnam time), the Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement to recruit big man Christian Wood with a 2-year contract.
Here’s what to know about this new deal:
The contract has a total value of US$5.7 million for 2 years, including the Player Option provision in the second year. So Wood will be allowed to become a free agent as soon as next summer if he wants to.
Last season, Christian Wood averaged 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game for the Dallas Mavericks, playing the perfect pairing with All-Star defender Luka Doncic.
In the NBA transfer market this summer, Wood is considered to be in the top 5 most valuable strikers according to The Athletic.
Compared to the previous contract (3 years – 40 million USD), Christian Wood accepted a fairly high salary reduction with the goal of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
He can both play in a highly competitive team and has the ability to seek the championship. The big man born in 1995 shared on the X platform (formerly Twitter): “Wearing for the Lakers has always been my dream.”
As for the yellow and purple team, they only spent 5.7 million USD in 2 years to have the services of one of the most quality strikers on the market at the present time.
In the most recent season, Wood averaged more than 16 points/game and showed quite a bit of flexibility in attack. There are still concerns about Christian’s mentality, but in a locker room with LeBron James as its leader, this is something that can be resolved with time.
The Los Angeles Lakers have finally completed their goal of finding a striker, officially closing 14 spots in the squad for the 2023-24 season.
In the immediate future, Wood will compete for minutes and position in the starting lineup with Rui Hachimura (big man has just signed a 3-year contract worth 51 million USD). In the long term, Wood will become Anthony Davis’ backup plan.
In the event that AD is forced to retire for any reason, Christian will immediately be substituted to join Hachimura in the near-basket and contribute to the attack alongside LeBron James.
On the minus point, Christian Wood used to have problems related to the dressing room and psychology when playing. This is also the reason why some teams need a striker but are still shy and do not sign a contract with a big man born in 1995.
However, the Los Angeles Lakers brought Wood to Crypto.com Stadium at a very cheap price compared to what this player performed last season.
Combined with the ability to “overpower” leader LeBron James in the locker room, Christian Wood can focus more on playing even though his role will be smaller than before.