Cooper Neill/NBAE by way of Getty Photographs
Ahead Christian Wooden agreed to a 2-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in free company on Tuesday, in line with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wooden later confirmed the deal on his Twitter account:
Bobby Marks of ESPN had the total breakdown of Wooden’s deal:
Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
23-24: $2,709,849
24-25: $3,036,040 (P)
Wooden can reestablish himself with a robust Laker crew and enter free company as soon as once more subsequent offseason.
Depth of bigs embrace: Anthony Davis, Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and now Wooden https://t.co/yKp9Fewcfh
The 27-year-old was acquired by the Dallas Mavericks from the Houston Rockets previous to the 2022-23 season in trade for Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, Boban Marjanović and Wendell Moore Jr.
The obvious hope for Dallas’ perspective was that Wooden would be capable to function a second star alongside Luka Dončić within the wake of guard Jalen Brunson leaving the Mavs to signal with the New York Knicks in free company.
Whereas Wooden did not put up superstar-caliber numbers, nor produce at fairly the identical degree he did throughout his two earlier seasons in Houston, he was nonetheless a key participant for the Mavs.
Showing in 67 video games, Wooden averaged 16.6 factors, 7.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.6 three-pointers made and 1.1 blocks.
Throughout his first three NBA seasons, Wooden bounced round between a number of groups, taking part in bit roles for the Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans.
It wasn’t till the 2019-20 season when the UNLV product landed with the Detroit Pistons that he started to emerge as a serious contributor.
Beginning 12 of the 62 video games he appeared in for the Pistons that season, Wooden averaged 13.1 factors and 6.3 rebounds.
He was in a position to parlay that right into a sign-and-trade with the Rockets, and proceeded to have the 2 greatest statistical seasons of his profession, averaging 19.1 factors, 9.9 rebounds and a pair of.1 assists in 109 video games with the Rockets.
In signing with the Lakers, Wooden will maybe look to return nearer to his Houston degree of manufacturing and luxuriate in an extended tenure than he did at any of his earlier NBA stops.
In the meantime, the Mavericks will proceed to reshape their roster round Dončić in hopes of finally placing collectively a gaggle able to going to the NBA Finals.
After reaching the Western Convention Finals final season, the Lakers have arguably constructed an excellent higher crew coming into the 2023-24 marketing campaign.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis are again because the core stars, whereas Wooden provides some much-needed versatility within the frontcourt and stands as one in every of L.A.’s high additions together with Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish.
