Christian Wood – Houston Rockets
The Rockets struck gold last year in free agency, as they inked Christian Wood to a three-year, $48M deal ahead of the 2020-21 season. At first, this did not seem like a monumental signing for this franchise, but Wood has turned himself into an essential part of their rebuild.
Since joining the Rockets, Christian Wood has averaged 19.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and has shot 49.9% from the floor, 36.3% from three-point range. At just 26-years-old, Wood is on a very affordable contract and has one year left on his deal, making him a trade target of plenty of teams heading into 2022.
While the only thing they are in contention for is the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, there’s a lot to like about this young group in Houston. Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate and Kevin Porter Jr. all look like relatively young talents this team can build around for the foreseeable future, as does Christian Wood.
However, the Rockets could receive a ton of value in a trade for Wood right now and The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported Monday that teams will be inquiring about Rockets center Christian Wood moving forward with Houston listening to offers coming their way.
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“There is an expectation around the NBA that Christian Wood, who’s in the second season of a three-year contract, will receive significant trade interest and that Houston will entertain offers.”
With him set to be a free agent following the 2022-23 season and the Rockets not being in the best situation in terms of competing in the Western Conference, there is some concern within this organization that the team could wind up losing Wood to a larger offer from another team.
They could ultimately wait until the offseason or next season to try and trade Wood, but the Rockets would run the risk of his value going down from a potential injury or something else.
Christian Wood’s value is at an all-time high and is probably the highest it will ever be in his career, but at the same time, Houston seems content keeping him at the moment and moving on from other veterans such as Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustin and Danuel House Jr.
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It is very possible that they could pull-the-plug on Wood and move forward with rookie Alperen Sengun as their starting big man, but with the way things are trending right now, Christian Wood will remain in Houston for the time being.
Prediction: Stays in Houston
