As the Los Angeles Lakers figure out their direction for the 2024-25 season and beyond, Christian Wood is keeping himself in their plans going into free agency.
Per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, Wood has exercised his $3 million player option with the Lakers for next season.
The Lakers have a lot of things they are dealing with in the lead up to free agency. LeBron James hasn’t decided if he will exercise his $51.4 million player option for next season.
NBA insider Marc Stein recently said on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast (starts at 15:00 mark) that “all signals” right now are James will sign a new deal with the Lakers this summer.
Los Angeles is also looking for a new head coach after firing Darvin Ham on May 3.
Wood was a late addition to the Lakers’ roster last offseason, signing a two-year deal with the club on Sept. 6.
The hope was a combination of Wood and Jaxson Hayes would allow the Lakers to play Anthony Davis fewer minutes at center during the regular season.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported soon after the Wood signing that Davis “made it clear” to Lakers management that he wanted more support at center so he didn’t have to play it as much as he did in 2022-23.
The strategy never paid off for the Lakers because of the limitations for Wood and Hayes on the court. Wood has been regarded as one of the worst defensive bigs in the NBA for years.
Hayes’ defensive reputation is slightly better than Wood’s, but he tends to be very aggressive on that end of the floor it gets him into foul trouble. The 23-year-old averages 4.4 fouls per 36 minutes in his career, including 5.0 this season with the Lakers.
Wood was limited to 50 games this season. He suffered a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery on March 19 which kept him out for the remainder of the regular season.
Even though Wood was available for Games 4 and 5 of the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, he didn’t see any time on the court. He finished the season averaging 6.9 points on 46.6 percent shooting and 5.1 rebounds per game.
