Will Christian Wood be a Cavalier Next Season?

The Cavaliers have shown an interest in potentially signing Christian Wood. Wood, currently an unrestricted free agent. Wood played last year in Dallas, and hopped around the league before that. It was looking like he was going to Chicago, but with that now looking shot the Cavaliers hope to maybe add one of the final pieces to their team. Will Christian Wood be a Cavalier next season?

Past few years

Wood had a decent year in Dallas, averaging 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and one point eight assists a game. His best performances, however, came during his stint in Houston. Averaging 19.45 points, two assists, and just a shave under ten rebounds a game. 

This is over the course of two years, though. Being largely a journeyman, Wood played for seven teams across his eight years in the league. The only team he’s spent consecutive seasons with is Houston. 

In his first season in Houston (2020-21) he scored 21 points, nine point six rebounds and almost two assists a game. His next year he scored less (17.9 points a game) but averaged almost one more in both rebounds and assists. Although his scoring average dropped slightly in the last two years, he is interestingly scoring a lot more. In the past two years he’s scored over 1100 points for the first time in his career. 

On the flip side, his defensive rating is also on an upward trajectory. He’s seen his defensive rating rise over six points since his rookie season. While that’s not the one definitive way to measure a player’s value on defense, it’s not a positive.

Is it likely?

So far this off-season the Cavaliers have re-signed Caris Lavert and acquired Max Strus, Georges Niang, Ty Jerome and Damian Jones through trades and signings. 

They also have a number of players to call on from their recent Summer League team. These players include Isaiah Mobley, Sam Merrill, Emoni Bates and Craig Porter Jr. who played well enough this summer to garner Cleveland their first Summer League Championship win. These players are second-year G-League players, late second-round picks and undrafted rookies so it’s not probable that they will see a lot of playing time in the NBA, but their play this summer showed that they absolutely could be up to the task if they are indeed called on. 

Will Christian Wood be a Cavalier next season? With the new players acquired this summer through trades, free agency signings and the draft it’s unclear if Cleveland will turn again to free agency to dot the T’s and dot the I’s of their roster, or if they will look within their own organization for that role. But what is certain is that Wood is a player on an upward trajectory that, if asked to come off the bench, would be a solid center behind Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. 

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Featured photo courtesy of NBA.com
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