The Lakers are finally back in action tonight following a week-long hiatus because of the LA wildfires. Their opponents? The San Antonio Spurs. Well, LeBron James and Co. are heading into the game with two straight losses and they aim to turn things around with the long home stretch. Obviously, they will need all hands on deck to get the job done. However, they will not be at complete strength anytime soon, which is evident from the latest health update on Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood.

Although Vando has made decent progress from his offseason surgery, JJ Redick revealed he will not make his season debut this week. Yes, the forward has not played in an NBA game since last February and his absence has left a major void in the team. Obviously, Vando was a key part of their run to the West Finals two seasons ago.

While it might not be this week, JJ is hopeful about Vando returning soon as he said in a recent interview, “Jarred was able to get two of the last three days, some live action with our South Bay team, which is I think really good for him. We want to get him more exposure to live play against professionals before we set a sort of target date. But it is imminent that he’ll be back with us in the next hopefully few weeks.”

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Wood. He, too, is yet to make his season debut following his knee surgery last summer. But Redick revealed tonight that there was no update on his return so far. Of course, that raises massive concerns for the Lakers because Wood is a solid backup big and averaged 6.9 points and over five rebounds last season.

Sure enough, Laker Nation was left fuming after JJ’s concerning updates about the injured stars as comments like “This ridiculous” began flooding in.

Moreover, Wood was the one who caught the brunt of the criticism.

NBA World urges Lakers to trade Christian Wood after accusing him of being a “Salary Thief”

When the Lakers signed Wood, he was expected to take some load off Anthony Davis’ shoulders. But the forward has slowly turned into a liability for the team because of his constant injury woes. The last time he stepped on the court was in February last year. Fans have started to get frustrated as they began accusing him of comments like, “Another salary thief on this team” and “This guy has basically been having a paid vacation for the past 2 seasons.”

Well, Wood is on a two-year $5.7 million contract with the Lakers and fans want him to be on the court and earn his salary instead of watching from the sidelines. But he cannot control how fast his knee recovers. One fan even made a shocking comparison after JJ’s update on Wood, “Dudes knees are worse than Kawhi.”

Yes, The Klaw just made his season debut earlier this month after dealing with lingering knee issues. Therefore, Wood is raising similar concerns for the Lakers with his uncertain timeline.

Sure enough, his absence has left the fans urging the Lakers to “trade him.” With the Feb deadline approaching, Laker Nation wants Rob Pelinka to make a trade to acquire a new star and boost their chances of winning a title. Maybe, Wood or Vanderbilt can be used as trade assets to get the job done. Do you think Pelinka should trade them amid injury concerns?