Big man Christian Wood is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and whether one loves or hates the move, he clearly has the potential to help them this season.
He averaged 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds a game while shooting 50.9% from the field and 38.1% from 3-point range the last three seasons. Even though he is officially listed at 6-foot-9 and 214 pounds, it appears the plan is for him to play lots of minutes at the center position off the bench.
Wood will likely also play some meaningful minutes alongside Anthony Davis. Per Dave McMenamin, Davis told the Lakers that wanted some help, personnel-wise, so that he will not have to play at the 5 as much (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via ESPN:
“Sources told ESPN that Davis made it clear to the organization he wanted to have more support at center so he wouldn’t have to play so much 5 during the regular season,” McMenamin wrote.
While Davis played the majority of his minutes at power forward in his first two seasons in L.A., that has changed since. This past season he almost exclusively played at the 5.
Davis starting at the 4 and the tag-team duo of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard at the 5 won the Lakers the NBA championship during the 2019-20 season. It appears the organization wants to revert to using two big men a significant amount of the time moving forward.
To that end, it also signed Jaxson Hayes, a 6-foot-11 pogo stick of a center, this summer in order to bolster its depth at that position.
Last year, the Lakers had to make do during the second half of the season without a true backup center. That will not be the case this season.