Los Angeles Lakers power forward Christian Wood underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee on Monday the team confirmed. LA confirmed that the procedure went well and that he will be re-evaluated by team medical staff in 8 weeks time.
The surgery marks the second such procedure Wood has undergone in less than a year, after previously having a separate procedure on his left knee in March. The 28 year old missed the final two months of the season due to a left knee injury, limiting his first year as a Laker to just 50 games.
Wood averaged 6.9pts/5.1reb/1ast during his inaugural campaign with the purple and gold. Having picked up his $3M player option to remain with the club this offseason, the well travelled veteran will now undoubtedly miss LA’s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 22nd.
With their 2024-25 schedule kicking off in 6 weeks, and the subsequent need to get back into basketball shape, it’s highly likely that the Lakers will be without their big man until at least mid-November at this rate.
The club stopped short of providing any timelines, or updates as to what may have necessitated a 2nd surgery on Wood’s knee, however the track record for power forwards undergoing multiple offseason knee surgeries and then returning to pre-injury form isn’t extensive.
Over the course of a 339 game NBA career, which featured stops in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, Dallas and now Los Angeles, Wood has never appeared in more than 68 contests.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.