The Los Angeles Lakers added a significant wild card to their roster on Tuesday when they signed Christian Wood to a two-year contract.
Wood is a 6-foot-9 big man who can play both the 4 and 5 and score buckets in bunches. Over the last three seasons, he averaged 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds a game while shooting 50.9% overall and 38.1% from 3-point range.
His lack of defense and outsized opinion of his value are definite issues, but on the Lakers, he will have a specific role to stick to, not to mention strong leadership from LeBron James and head coach Darvin Ham.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Ham will likely bring Wood off the bench as his primary backup center behind Anthony Davis (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via The Athletic:
“The early expectation is that Wood will come off the bench with Rui Hachimura the likely frontcourt starter next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, according to team sources,” wrote Buha. “At a minimum, Wood will be the primary backup center behind Davis while occasionally teaming with him in two-big lineups. He should average around 20 minutes per game when everyone is healthy.”
One reason Wood is expected to come off the bench, according to Buha, is the fact that starting him would force James to play out of position, especially on the defensive end.
“The challenge with starting Wood is the same that arises for any potential Lakers two-big lineup: it forces Davis and James to slide down to power forward and small forward, positions they’ve each phased out of as they’ve aged.
“Davis played 100 percent of his minutes at center last season and 76 percent of his minutes there the season prior. James played 99 percent of his minutes at either power forward or center last season. Using James as a small forward, which was more common earlier in his Lakers tenure, means he must defend apex predator wings like Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard. That’s unreasonable for a soon-to-be-39-year-old in Year 21.”
If Wood accepts such a diminished role (he has started the majority of his games over the last three seasons while playing 29.3 minutes a game), he can give Los Angeles one of the league’s best and deadliest benches.