Two knee surgeries! Can Wood, 29, return to the NBA?

Christian Wood, may be about to fade out of the NBA.

The free market has been opened for a month and a half. The former Mavericks, Rockets and Lakers have not found their next player so far, and the situation is very bad. In such a friendly environment to the inside this summer, Wood can't even see a rumor, which means he is completely confused.

Or we should say that because we want to sign Ryan (although this signing was not very successful), Wood was laid off by the Lakers in February this year. However, since he was laid off, Wood has not seen any rumors, so it can be said that no one cares about it. Injuries are a big factor in the reason why this happens.

Wood signed a 2-year, 5.75 million yuan base salary contract with the Lakers in the summer of 2023 (the second year player option). Then in March 2024, Wood underwent arthroscopic surgery due to knee effusion.

The news at that time was that Wood might be reimbursed for the regular season and then return to the playoffs or the playoffs. However, the recovery process of this injury was much longer than expected. Wood was reimbursed directly for the season and did not recover from his health at the end of the playoffs.

By the 2024 offseason, Wood performed the second year player option and stayed with the Lakers, but by the start of the 24-25 season, his recovery was still not ideal. Finally, in September 2024, Wood underwent arthroscopy again.

The second operation is the same as the first operation. The estimated recovery time should be two months, but Wood was raised like this and did not return until he was laid off. There were some interesting things during the period. For example, Wood said boldly on social media in August last year: "Tell you, I'm back, I will play with a revenge next season." - As a result, we all know that Wood didn't play a game because of his injury.

Also, for example, when I was recuperating from my injuries in the past two years, every time there was news about Wood, it was "Wood is about to return", so I liked to be the nickname "Soon Brother".

Two knee surgeries naturally had a great impact, but even before the operation, Wood's condition was not particularly good.

In the 2023-24 season, Wood played 50 games for the Lakers, averaging 17.4 minutes per game, scoring 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds, and his shooting percentages in the three events were only 46.6%/30.7%/70.2% respectively.

Wood is a player with obvious characteristics. He has a certain attack and can also shoot three-pointers. He is a more popular space insider in today's era.

2019-20 season was his season of fame. During his time with the Pistons, Wood averaged 21.4 minutes per game, scored 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds, shooting percentage of 56.7%, and three-point shooting percentage of 38.6%, and scoring efficiency was excellent.

It was also because of the outbreak of this year that Wood was attracted by the Rockets. It happened that the Rockets were about to enter the reconstruction period when Harden left, so Wood became the core of the Rockets, and also received a three-year, 41 million contract.

To be honest, Wood's personal performance in the Rockets has indeed reached its peak in two years. At least the data is very good:

-2020-21 season, averaged 21.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 51.4%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 37.4% in 2021-22 season, averaged 17.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 50.1%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 39.0% in two consecutive years, and his real shooting percentage is over 59%. Judging from the data alone, Wood is completely the top space insider in the league.

was also attracted by Wood's spatial attributes. In the 2022 offseason, Wood was sent to the Mavericks in a 5-for-1 deal. The Mavericks paid him the No. 26 pick for Boban, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Markis Chris, and the No. 26 pick in the first round of 2022.

The Mavericks' idea at the time was to find a space for Doncic, just like Porzingis, the starting point was good, but judging from the results, Wood's joining did not succeed.

While playing for the Mavericks, Wood went from starting to substitute, averaging 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, shooting percentage of 51.5% and three-point shooting percentage of 37.6%.

In fact, only looking at the data, Wood is still good, but his data needs to be swiped out. This kind of offense has not made the team better, and his shortcomings on the defensive end are too great, resulting in negative contributions to the team.

The data can be explained: During the Mavericks, when Wood was on the court, the team lost 1.3 points in a net loss of 100 rounds, but when he was not on the court, the team won 1.0 points in a net victory in 100 rounds.

In addition, during the Rockets, Wood did not show a core performance. When he was on the court, the Rockets lost 9.4 points in a 100-game match. On the contrary, he was not on the court, and this number was reduced to 7.4 points.

The fact is that after the Mavericks season, Wood entered the free market with confidence. As a result, he waited for two months before joining the Lakers with a two-year final salary in September. Lakers fans should still remember how happy Wood was when he just returned to the Western Conference Finals that year and was able to win 16.6 points per game with a two-year final salary in the free market. Unfortunately, we all know what happened later.

For Wood, after two knee surgeries, this summer is destined to be difficult. If he still recovers poorly, his NBA career may end there. It should be said that Wood is only 29 years old now, and I hope to see him in the NBA next season.