Christian Wood Signs with Lakers, Takes Shots at Mavs: 'Motivated After What Dallas Did'
If you thought Christian Wood was going to leave the Dallas Mavericks without causing somewhat of a stink on his way, you thought wrong. Less than 24 hours after signing a two-year veteran's minimum contract the Los Angeles Lakers, Wood gave a statement to Andscape, where he appeared to take shots at the Mavs and his former head coach Jason Kidd.
"I've always wanted to be a Laker. I know we can win a championship," Wood said. "Communication with a coach is a big key. Coach [Darvin] Ham and I go back to our Milwaukee days, and we've had great conversations everyday about this opportunity. He believes in me and told me I'll be playing a big role and knows what I can do. I'm looking forward to this, and [I'm for sure] motivated after what Dallas did."
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Although Wood doesn't address Kidd by name, it's obvious that he's saying his former coach didn't communicate well with him or believe in him. In 67 games for the Mavs, Wood averaged 16.6 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from deep. Despite viewing himself as a starting-caliber player, Wood only started 17 games for the Mavs.
Coaches want to see high energy and effort on both sides of the court whether a player is starting or coming off the bench. Wood is a very talented offensive player, but his effort on the defensive end was nonexistent at times, and that's ultimately why he didn't receive the minutes he was expecting last season.
"We just didn't have a team that was committed to their roles. Like the year before when we went to the Western Conference Finals ... everybody knew their role and everybody just played their role perfectly. This past year, that just wasn't the case," Mavs owner Mark Cuban said on a recent episode of the Pat Bev Podcast.
"It wasn't Kyrie or Luka, they knew their roles. But once other guys start playing for themselves or not playing for the team, every mistake that you can possibly have is magnified to know end. So we made a lot of changes ... on and off the court."
Some people will blame the Mavs for the Wood experiment not working out, especially if he ends up being a good signing for the Lakers. However, the fact remains that Wood is going to be on his eighth team in eight seasons. And 29 other teams had a chance to sign him for more than the veteran's minimum for the last two months, so why didn't they? Perhaps Wood taking shots at his former employer is a start to answering that question.
