Los Angeles Lakers fans heard everything they wanted to hear on Monday when the entire team gathered together for the first time at media day. For the basketball starved, just seeing the players from last year, as well as the new additions donning the purple and gold, left us clamoring for Saturday’s first preseason game.
Among the summer’s signings, one player specifically stood out as someone with a fair amount of question marks surrounding them. No, it wasn’t Jaxson Hayes or Cam Reddish, who both have yet to live up to the high expectations they came into the league with. In large part, most questions and possibly even worries have stemmed from the 6th year big man out of UNLV, Christian Wood.
Over the course of Woods’s career, he’s seen quite a bit of the full landscape of the league. The 28-year-old big has been in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, and Dallas before finally settling down this season in LA.
It does make you wonder: how can a big who averages nearly 15 points, 7 rebounds, and shoots the ball from three at a 38% clip seemingly not find a spot to call home? If the production is there, there must be some other reason. Wood addressed that exact topic on Monday with the Los Angeles media.
Christian Wood wants to be with the Los Angeles Lakers long-term
Like most kids who grew up in Long Beach, California, it was fairly difficult to not become a Lakers fan. Whether it was Magic and Kareem that did it or Kobe and Shaq, there was no escaping it as a fan of basketball. Christian Wood was no different.
"“Yeah for sure, I mean this is my hometown team. I’m from Long Beach, I grew up watching this team, watching Kobe Bryant you know. So, this is where I want to be long-term.”"
Even though the big man is essentially where he’s always wanted to be, it does beg the question, what will be different this time around? There have been murmurs of defensive shortcomings and character issues throughout his various stays around the league, but Wood attempted to put some of that noise to bed on Monday.
"“I think there’s a lot of false narratives out there about me. Whether you look at it or not, I put up I think 17 and 9 and signed for a vet minimum. I’ve seen a lot of talk about, ‘why is he going for the vet minimum, maybe its character issues, maybe it’s this maybe it’s that’. When you really look at it I’ve never had any problems on a team – never had any locker room problems, every coach I’ve talked to has loved me.”"
One of those coaches who has loved and supported him from afar is Lakers head coach Darvin Ham. Ham was around Wood during his time in the G-League and, on a closer level, was his player-coach during Woods’ time in Milwaukee. Perhaps that support from a trusted authority figure like a head coach, blended with the team’s surplus of talent, will be enough to bring out a career year.
We don’t know how the season will pan out, but Wood has an idea of how he expects it to end. On Saturday, Wood cryptically tweeted out a number that doesn’t mean much unto itself, but Lakers fans knew exactly what he meant.
18 .
— 35 (@Chriswood_5) September 30, 2023
Championship number 18 is the goal throughout the entire Lakers building this season, yet some still don’t think it’s in the cards for the team. Regardless of how the sports media world feels about the Lakers, it’s abundantly clear that the mindset within the organization is a championship-driven one and Christian Wood can’t wait to contribute.