The Los Angeles Lakers have been without backup center Christian Wood for the entirety of the 2024-25 season up to this point. He underwent offseason knee surgery that was expected to hold him out for the first stretch of the year. However, soreness in his knee early last week delayed his timetable and he is projected to be out for a few more weeks.
In the meantime, the Lakers have had only Anthony Davis and two-way center Christian Koloko as their only bigs. Jaxson Hayes began the year strong but is now also out with an injury. Getting Wood back would be a massive development for L.A. given the depth at that position.
The Lakers have not given many updates on Wood, but he was seen at shootaround on Saturday morning doing some stationary shooting, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic and Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
Christian Wood doing stationary shooting on the side at shootaround pic.twitter.com/ynkF1jnHpe
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) November 23, 2024
Christian Wood getting some standstill shooting in after shootaround Saturday morning pic.twitter.com/m5OfyGh5Rr
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 23, 2024
This is both good and less than ideal for the Lakers. For one, it’s good to see the Lakers big man getting shots up and progressing in his rehab. He has already missed 15 games and is going to miss some more, so any sign that he is moving forward is a good one.
At the same time, stationary shooting is a long ways away from being able to play in an NBA game. And if the Lakers have to go another 3-4 weeks without their backup big, that could take a toll on Davis and Koloko who are putting in extra work at the position.
The next steps for Wood would be non-contact drill work, then contact, then into 5-on-5 and finally being cleared to play. But those steps all take time, and that’s something the Lakers don’t have much of given their current depth.
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt out at least two more weeks
Another Lakers player who has missed every game so far this season is forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who underwent surgery on both of his feet this past offseason.
Similar to Christian Wood, Vanderbilt is progressing slower than expected as the team was originally optimistic that he would be ready for the season opener in October. He is still not yet back though and the Lakers recently announced that he would be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks.
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