Heading into the 2023 offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers targeted reliable centers to back up Anthony Davis. One of those bigs was Christian Wood, who is a skilled offensive big that is capable of sustaining some scoring at the five position while Davis rests.
It certainly has been an up-and-down season for Wood as his role fluctuated a ton. He has found himself out of the rotation at times while playing a significant role at others. With the Lakers winning six of their last seven heading into the All-Star break, the hope was to get other rotational pieces like Cam Reddish and Max Christie healthy to gear up for a playoff push.
Unfortunately, L.A. received more bad injury news as Wood is now experiencing left knee effusion and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team announced.
The good news though is that it is reported by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that there is optimism that Wood will return within that projected time:
There is optimism that Wood’s knee injury is minor and he will be able to return within the initial projected injury timeline, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN https://t.co/zCMhAUYwHS
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 22, 2024
The purple and gold were expecting reinforcements out of the break but they are now losing another player, which will result in more lineup adjustments. With Wood out for a little bit of time, that leaves Jaxson Hayes as the lone center to back up Davis.
With Hayes ideally being a 10-15 minute player, head coach Darvin Ham is going to have to get creative on how and when he rests Davis. When he is out of the game, the Lakers’ backline defense suffers and now that puts pressure on Hayes to hold the fort down. It is something worth monitoring if this lack of center depth hurts the team going forward.
Christian Wood & Darvin Ham set goal for Lakers
Coming out of the All-Star break, it is a crucial stretch for many teams in the Western Conference as they try to climb out of the Play-In Tournament or remain in the top-six. The Lakers, who have been in the Play-In Tournament in two out of the last three years, are looking to go on a similar run to last season to avoid it.
While this team has made it through the Play-In before, Wood and head coach Darvin Ham have set the goal of being a top-six seed in the conference to solidify a spot in the postseason.
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