Lakers make mistake taking Christian Wood over Suns player

The Los Angeles Lakers made a late move to strengthen their roster on Monday, with news that they had signed forward Christian Wood to the team on a two-year, veteran’s minimum deal. Not that the Phoenix Suns, or many other organizations for that matter, really cared.

Wood couldn’t resist a not so subtle dig at his former employers, the Dallas Mavericks, on the way out the door either. The 27-year-old who was once pretty highly thought of around the league, now on his eighth team since 2015-16 (did you even remember he played for the Charlotte Hornets?).

What the Lakers should have done with this roster spot however, was swoop in and take new Sun Bol Bol. They’ve made a mistake choosing Wood instead.

Wood might have had 21 points and 7.8 rebounds in 41 games with the Houston Rockets in 2020-21, but the further we get from that season, the more that is looking like an anomaly. There is also little doubt that Wood will be coming off the bench for the Lakers, and will not be a featured player offensively often.

If we know all of this to be true, then why have the Lakers gone out and signed a player who is going to want to put up points, and do very little else? This is even more true when you consider that Wood has steadily gotten worse defensively throughout his time in the league.

In fact last season with the Mavericks, a team that did not even make the play-in tournament despite having Luka Doncic and also Kyrie Irving by season’s end, Wood had a defensive rating of 116.7. In a word, that is terrible. Especially if you want your bigs to defend at a high level so you can make a postseason push.

Which is where Bol enters the conversation. We all know that he is also not a good defensive player. So bad in fact, that the Orlando Magic sat him down the stretch of their season once they got some of their key players healthy again. They also did not make the play-in, but it would be fair to say expectations were different for that group.

Despite playing on a limited roster early in the season, Bol had a defensive rating of 112. Make no mistake, that number isn’t worse in part because of the stellar job head coach Jamahl Mosley has done with that young group. They also have players such as Wendell Carter Jr., who Bol did share the court with often, to pad out that number some as well.

But that still begs the question — how was Wood that much worse defensively on a team that needed a lot more from him on that end, and why do the Lakers think it will be any different with them? Surely the better move here for the Lakers would have been to take a chance on Bol on a one-year deal in that same spot?

Not that the Suns are complaining here, because they have had themselves a stellar offseason. It is likely that the scoring ability of Wood was the factor for the Lakers here, but again, who is he going to take shots from? Obviously not LeBron James and Anthony Davis, while the likes of Austin Reeves and even D’Angelo Russell represent better offensive options in this moment.

We’ve already seen Wood fail to ever settle anywhere, and to be vocal in his displeasure with an organization once he was gone. Entering his prime, he is going to want to showcase his skills and try and get paid in the near future, as he should. Bol on the other hand, would have been a much better fit for the Lakers in exactly the same way he is for the Suns.

A complimentary player who is going to take what he is given offensively, and who is unfortunately going to leak points on the defensive end. The Suns have what they hope will be an rejuvenated Deandre Ayton on that end to help clean up, as well as former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.

The Lakers on the other hand will have Anthony Davis, a player not known either for his durability or his willingness to spend an entire regular season engaged defensively. Where do you think Bol would have been the better fit? Put another way, the idea of Wood with this current Suns group as they set off to win a championship is not a pleasant one.

To be fair to Wood, he is a career 37.9 percent shooter from 3-point range. Bol falls a great deal short of that at 29.3 percent, a horrible number. But in December of last year he shot over 40 percent from deep — a small sample size — but also the biggest opportunity he had ever been given to be featured offensively.

In the end the Suns profit here, because Bol is the better fit if you’re trying to round out a roster and are adding players who you hope can exceed expectations. So let’s chalk this up to a victory for the Suns over the Lakers before the season even begins, and see how much they enjoy Wood’s services in 2023-24.