25 years old, and his path to the NBA has been nothing but a whirlwind expedition.
Undrafted out of UNLV, the Detroit Pistons' Christian Wood spent his rookie season of 2015-2016 between Philadelphia with the 76ers and Delaware with their G-League team. The following season, he was between Charlotte with the Hornets and their G-League team in Greensboro. Last year, it was Milwaukee and their G-League team, the Herd, and then the New Orleans Pelicans. With the Pelicans, Wood played 8 games - starting 2 - and got 23.6 minutes per game, and averaged 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds. Up to this season, he had averaged just 11.4 minutes a game per season in the NBA.
Opportunity this year, though, has afforded Wood more minutes. He's appeared in 60 games and started 10. With Blake Griffin having played just 18 games due to a knee injury that saw him in and out of the lineup and require surgery in January, and Andre Drummond now in Cleveland, Wood is the Piston that has benefited the most.
He's also the one that has shown the most, looking like he'll be a household name for years to come.
Over his last 8 games in particular, dating back to February 12, the 6'10 forward has been outstanding. Over that span, he's averaging 23.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, and over a block per game. In the last two contests, he's tallied new career-highs in points - 29 vs OKC on March 4, and then 30 last night against the Utah Jazz, a game in which he outplayed their All-Star Center Rudy Gobert. On the season, Wood has twelve games of 10+ rebounds and thirteen games of 20+ points.
Wood is super active, always looking for an explosive finish at the rim when the opportunity presents itself, playing with high energy. He is an adequate ball handler, is adept from the outside and shooting the ball, and is an ideal pick and roll player that reminds you in that way of Deandre Jordan but with a little less bounce and power.
With the Griffin injury and the trading of Drummond, the Pistons went from a hopeful tough out in the playoffs before the season to a current team that is full of youth looking to see what it has for the future. The 6'10 Wood is on an expiring 2 year, $3 million deal that he signed for the 2018-19 season, where he was only guaranteed $100,000 for that season, and just $822,679 this season, per ESPN's Bobby Marks. An unrestricted free agent this summer, he is due for a big contract and should be a top priority for the Pistons.
If not, he'll go elsewhere to a team that will welcome him with open arms. There, he will become a star.
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