3 teams who blew a golden opportunity by not signing Christian Wood
Christian Wood could've made a lot of teams better but after sitting unsigned for months, he landed with the Lakers on a two-year deal.
One of the final free agency dominoes has officially fallen as Christian Wood inked a two-year deal to join the Los Angeles Lakers. This is a great get for the Lakers who had a clear need for a backup center with Jaxson Hayes as their only center outside of Anthony Davis.
Free agent F/C Christian Wood has agreed on a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Deal includes a player option.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 6, 2023
Wood's stock has clearly fallen, but let's not ignore the fact that the 27-year-old averaged 16.6 points per game in a bench role for the Mavericks last season to go along with 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.
Wood provides the Lakers with some much-needed bench scoring and he's a really fine rebounder as well. He's solid Anthony Davis insurance who can also end the LeBron James small-ball five minutes that should've never been a thing to begin with. Considering the fact that he signed for the minimum, there are several teams that missed out on a really good buy-low opportunity.
Team who should have signed Christian Wood: 3. Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a team that could have really used Christian Wood's size. They have two big men in their starting lineup with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, but their bench lacks size.
Damian Jones is their only backup center and he's a guy who averaged just 3.5 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game last season for the Lakers and Jazz. Jones has never been a full-time backup big in his career, never appearing in more than 56 games, and has done nothing to show that he's capable of playing that role on a Cavs team realistically trying to win the championship.
The only other player who is expected to get rotation minutes that can really be considered a big man is Georges Niang who is 6-foot-7 but Niang is more of a wing or stretch-4 and isn't a very good rebounder. The Cavs were towards the bottom in rebounds per game, averaging just 41.1 last season which was good for 24th in the NBA.
The Cavs prioritized shooting this offseason by bringing in guys like Max Strus and the aforementioned Niang, but Wood could've provided some of that shooting while also giving the Cavs another rebounder they needed at the minimum or just above if they wanted to steal him from the Lakers.