Lakers News: $3 Million Decision Turns Darvin Ham’s Firing a Blessing as Disgruntled 6’11 Star Ends Exit Rumors

Get a new coach, hope that LeBron James stays and improve the team ahead of the next season. These are just some of the tasks that lie ahead for the Lakers. As the Los Angeles Lakers figure out what to do in the 2024-25 season and beyond they have received a timely boost in this regard. Following the firing of Darvin Ham, one of the Lakers players to have player options for next season has exercised their right.

When he entered the franchise, Christian Wood entered hopefully talented, signing a two-year deal. He was the ideal companion to Anthony Davis. His ability to stretch across the hardwood floor complemented Davis and James flawlessly. Plus, he was a solid rebounder, so up went their defensive capabilities. But unfortunately, before a promising season for him could begin, injuries hampered him. He was constantly changing his place on the team, trying to find his footing, and was on rotations throughout the season. This led to a severe impact on the Lakers’ hopes to go ahead this season.

But then again, he is now finally looking ahead. After the playoff eliminations and firing of coach Darvin Ham, the Lakers were expected to go on a core dismantling. But then came their defensive powerhouse – Wood to the rescue, who is planning to keep himself associated with the franchise. Per the league sources, NBA insider Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirmed that Wood exercised his $3 million player option for the 2024-25 season.

Scotto tweeted, “Los Angeles Lakers forward Christian Wood has exercised his $3 million player option for the 2024–25 season, league sources told @hoopshype. Wood appeared in 50 games for the Lakers and averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game.” With Woods now all but confirmed to stay, Lakers will hope LeBron James follows suit.

King James hasn’t yet decided if he will exercise his $51.4 million player option for next season. However, NBA insider Marc Stein recently said on the thisleague UNCUT podcast ( that “all signals” right now are James will sign a new deal with the Lakers this summer. But Lakers have a few more players with uncertain futures.

D’Angelo Russell, ($18M player option) Jaxson Hayes ($2.4M player option), and others such as Spencer Dinwiddie and Taurean Prince may still end up in the free agency portal.

Even though $3 million is a low number, Wood did not have a lot of experience to display on the table. In fact, he did not even put up a lot of numbers in the previous season too. Wood managed to play for 50 games this season and overall averaged 6.9 points on 46.6 percent shooting and 5.1 rebounds per game, but was shelved because of multiple injuries he sustained. He joined the Lakers rather late, after signing a 2-year deal with the franchise under a player option.

So, it might be possible that he decided to just opt to extend his stay as a safer option, rather than explore free agency. In fact, he even jotted down a gratitude post on X, where he dropped hints on his intentions to stick to Purple and Gold. “I will be better and 100% healthy next season”.

However, it was not just the injuries that were holding Wood up from the court. The Lakers forward has the capability of a credible shooter covering most of the space on the court. However, despite his availability and skills, he did not get any time on the court during Game 4 and Game 5 against the Nuggets. Was it Darvin Ham who restrained Wood from getting onto the court?

Injuries or Preference Trouble from Darvin Ham: What Kept Christian Wood Out?

The reason that Wood got out of the Lakers was his knee injury over the All-Star break. However, after his arthroscopic knee injury, the Lakers forward was expected to come back after a few weeks. But his condition did not improve, and ultimately, he missed almost every game of the regular season and playoff games as well. After going through the entire season, it does not seem that there was only a restraining factor behind Wood’s lower game count.

As we go back to early 2024, Christian tweeted three words “LOL” ahead of the Lakers’ match against the Atlanta Hawks. The Athletic sources speculated at that time it could have a connection with Jaxen Hayes getting placed on the roster in place of AD. Usually, Wood is supposed to play as frontline and rim defender in the absence of AD. However, third-stringer Hayes got the chance. Even when Darvin Ham was asked about the cryptic post after the match, he replied, “We’re constantly looking for balance with our lineup. It’s not a popularity contest.”

Notably, the Lakers lost the match to the Hawks with a scoreline of 138-122. No wonder Wood is not so good under the rim protection, but he is good at scoring. It seems to be better than Hayes’ over-aggressive defense, which often leads to fouls. Interestingly, the 23-year-old averages 4.4 fouls every 36 minutes in his career, with 5 5.0 just this season. So, coach Darvin Ham might have missed the chance to give a potential player the chance to shine during the games. But with Ham now out of the picture, Wood could get a better chance to prove himself.

Do you think Wood decided to stay at the Lakers after Ham’s ouster from the team’s coaching staff?