- Report: Lakers downgrade D’Angelo Russell’s status for Friday’s matchup vs. Thunder
- Kendrick Perkins rips ‘borderline senior citizen’ Chris Paul for letting Austin Reaves drop 25 points on him
- Anthony Davis issues confident statement on Lakers playoff hopes: ‘You put anybody against us, I like our chances’
- Anthony Davis declares that he and LeBron James have ‘one of the best relationships’ among duos in the NBA
- Former teammate of Kobe and LeBron says Kobe was ‘like Mike’ while LeBron was more ‘happy-go-lucky’
- Report: LeBron James has resumed on-court activity for Lakers
- Monty Williams sounds off on free-throw disparity in Lakers-Suns game
- Patrick Beverley implies his opinion wasn’t valued on Lakers
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says he never liked LeBron’s game
- Germany recruiting Austin Reaves to play for them in the World Cup
LeBron James seen warning teammates about Christian Wood: ‘Hold his a-s, this guy is trouble’
- Updated: January 12, 2021
During Sunday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, LeBron James could be heard imploring his teammates to keep the Rockets’ rapidly improving center Christian Wood in check.
“ok ok….hold him. hold his ass…[that] guy is trouble, hold him down.”
love this. LeBron knows how good Christian Wood has gotten. pic.twitter.com/4T3idlIjxt
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 11, 2021
Wood went undrafted out of college before eventually making his NBA debut in 2015 with the Philadelphia 76ers, beginning a bumpy path that eventually led him to be traded to the Rockets less than two months ago.
Over his tumultuous career, the 25-year-old Wood has played with six NBA teams and had spent virtually all that time coming off the bench.
However, after Wood was claimed by the New Orleans Pelicans in March 2019, he began to exhibit the sort of ability that could make an impact. Despite an impressive eight-game stint with the Pelicans, the team released him in July, with the Detroit Pistons then signing him.
In 62 games with the Pistons last year, Wood averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, which were merely a warmup for the breakout campaign he’s having this season.
In Wood’s seven games this season, he’s now averaging 23.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game and has become more of a shot-blocker, averaging 1.9 blocks per game.
That improvement is something that James was clearly aware of when he took the line last night. It’s also something that could be a factor down the road as the Lakers look for ways to capture another NBA title.