Christian Wood

January 14, 2025

Return not imminent

Lakers head coach JJ Redick said Monday that he had no update on the status of Wood, who has been sidelined all season while recovering from the left knee surgery he underwent in September, Daniel Starkand of LakersNation.com reports.

Analysis

Back on Dec. 30, Redick told Starkand that Wood was able to take part in some individual work following the Lakers' practice session, but the lack of a concrete update on the big man's status in the two weeks since then suggest that Wood has either plateaued in his recovery or suffered a setback. Whatever the case, Wood seems further from a return than fellow big man Jarred Vanderbilt (foot), whom Redick said Monday is "close" to playing, but won't be an option for any of the team's games this week, per Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet. Assuming Vanderbilt ends up beating him back to the court for his season debut, Wood may not be a serious candidate to enter the rotation even once he's made a full recovery from knee surgery.