Christian Wood signs two-year deal with Los Angeles Lakers

Christian Wood has agreed to a two-year, $5.7 million deal withthe Los Angeles Lakers, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.Wood's contract includes a player option for the 2024-25season.

Wood was arguably the top remaining free agent available thisoffseason, and now he'll join the Lakers and provide them with somefrontcourt depth.

Last year with the Dallas Mavericks, Wood averaged 16.6 points,7.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.6 threes and 1.1 blocks in 25.9minutes per game, while shooting 51.5% from the field, 37.6% fromthree-point range and 77.2% from the free-throw line.

In 17 starts with the Mavs, Wood averaged 20.4 points, 9.4rebounds, 2.3 threes, 2.3 blocks, 2.2 assists and .6 steals pergame on 51.7/37.1/80.8 shooting splits.

Here’s Christian Wood knocking down eighttriples against the Wizards back in 2021-22. Career 38% three-pointshooter. Should unlock some interesting possibilities for theLakers as a bona fide floor-spacing big. pic.twitter.com/5y2dcOoZUf

After starting for the Houston Rockets during the previous twoseasons, Wood adjusted to coming off the bench for Dallas for themajority of his appearances last year.

Wood is a nice offensive weapon for the Lakers, who are comingoff a Western Conference Finals run. Wood has bounced around theNBA, and the Lakers will be his seventh team in seven NBAseasons.

Perhaps being part of a contender with some strong leaders willbe good for the 27-year-old, whose personality issues and defensivestruggles were a big reason why he was still unsigned inSeptember.

Los Angeles has been very active this offseason, adding Wood,Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish as wellas re-signing Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D'AngeloRussell.

Last year, the Lakers finished with the seventh-best record inthe Western Conference (43-39). They finished the season with theNBA's 13th-best defense (allowing 111.5 points per 100 possessions)and 19th-best offense (scoring 111.8 points per 100possessions).