LOS ANGELES — Before the Lakers matched up against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, Coach Darvin Ham said an update on injured big man Christian Wood was coming “pretty soon.”
It doesn’t appear that the official update will be a positive one.
Wood is headed toward having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, a source confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Monday evening.
News of Woods’ upcoming surgery was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin, who reported that Wood is expected to be sidelined for “several weeks” after the procedure.
The Lakers conclude the regular season against the Pelicans in New Orleans on April 14.
Wood hasn’t played since the All-Star break, being sidelined for what the team has officially deemed “left knee effusion” (swelling).
He has averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game (50 games) this season.
Wood signed a two-year, $5.75 million contract with the Lakers as a free agent in September. The second season of the contract (2024-25) is a $3.06 million player option.
Wood is one of several Lakers who have missed significant time this season.
Guard Gabe Vincent, one of the Lakers’ main free agent signings from last summer, has been sidelined for all but five games because of left knee ailments. He had surgery on Dec. 27.
Forward Jarred Vanderbilt, a critical defensive piece, missed the season’s first 20 games of left heel bursitis (inflammation) and played about two months’ worth of games before suffering a sprained right midfoot in early February.
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Versatile wing Cam Reddish has been in and out of the lineup for the last couple of months because of a sprained right ankle.
Two-way big man Colin Castleton is making his way back from a fractured right wrist.
PODCASTING
Lakers star LeBron James announced that he and 15-year NBA veteran JJ Redick, who is part of ABC/ESPN’s NBA broadcasting crew, are starting a podcast called “Mind the Game”.
The podcast’s first episode will be released on Tuesday morning.
“Full episode up [Tuesday],” James posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). “This is for everyone who truly loves our beautiful game. Shout out to [Reddick] for creating this with us. Wait until we add the visuals/clips to go along with it too!”