The Los Angeles Lakers are likely to have reserve center Christian Wood back in the lineup during their ongoing NBA first-round series against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Wood plans to come back from a knee injury in Game 3.
Wood, who has been sidelined since February 14, still needs to complete a few more steps before being allowed to return, Lakers coach Darvin Ham informed the press shortly after Charania's report.
“All I’ll say is he’s still going through his recovery process from injury, his rehab process,” Ham said of Wood during a conference call with reporters. “Obviously, he has size, he has length, he has rebounding capabilities, he can stretch the floor. But first and foremost, he has a couple more boxes to check before we even consider that.”
Wood averaged 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 46.6% from the field and 30.7% from the 3-point range in 50 regular season games.
Wood is much closer to returning than Jarred Vanderbilt, who sustained a midfoot sprain in Boston on February 1. Vanderbilt was seen wearing a boot before the Lakers’ Game 1 loss.
But Ham stated it was just a preventive measure and that Vanderbilt’s recovery plan was “going according to plan” while declining to disclose a specific timeline for his return, according to ESPN.
Christian Wood To Provide Additional Frontline Depth
Wood’s possible return will be a significant boost to the Lakers’ undermanned frontline. They are only depending on Anthony Davis and Jaxson Hayes to limit Denver’s two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Davis and Jokic offset each other in scoring with 32 points each, but the Lakers lost 114-103 in Game 1 after their backcourt and substitutes were outperformed.
The shadow of last year’s Western Conference Finals haunted D’Angelo Russell as he had another difficult shooting night. Russell shot 6 of 20 from the field and missed eight of nine 3-point attempts.
Austin Reaves had a quiet 13 points as the Nuggets outscored the Lakers by 12 points when he was on the floor.
In contrast, the Nuggets’ backcourt of Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined for 34 points. Murray added 11 assists while Caldwell-Pope scored all of his 12 points in the crucial third quarter, when the Nuggets took control of the game.
The Lakers’ second unit was non-existent except for Taurean Prince. The veteran Prince was the only Lakers reserve who attempted and scored. He had all of the Lakers’ 11 bench points.
The Nuggets got 17 points from their reserves, with second-year wing Peyton Watson scoring eight points on 3 of 6 shooting.
D’Angelo Russell Shrugs Off Poor Shooting
Russell remained positive despite his poor shooting in Game 1.
“I mean, I can’t be mad,” Russell told reporters after going 6 of 20 from the field. “I don’t recall the last time I got 20 shots. So for me to get 20 good looks — not 20 ‘good,’ probably five or six of them were questionable. I know what I’m capable of. So honestly, I’m excited. I’m excited about that.”
He came into this series averaging 18.0 points on a career-high 41.5% 3-point shooting and 6.3 assists and appeared on track for redemption.
While the Nuggets were defeating the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last season, Russell struggled and only managed to score an average of 6.3 points with a 13% 3-point shooting and 3.5 assists.
