What Happened to Lakers Center Christian Wood? The Trade, the Injury, and More

Lakers center Christian Wood has had a rough few years. After suffering a number of setbacks, he sustained an injury ahead of the 2023-2024 season that took him out of the game for some time.

But he promised to be back, despite the fact that his injury just didn't seem to want to heal.

However, Christian never did make it back on court for the season and it seems as though the Lakers got tired of waiting. On Feb. 12, 2025, the Lakers announced they were waiving him in favor of a new star player. Not only did the news sting, but it came hours after Christian seemed to be getting hype for another season and all his team had in store for the future.

Here's what we know about what happened to Christian Wood: the injury he sustained, the trade, and more.

Christian suffered an injury in the 2023-2024 season that forced him to keep delaying his return to the court, but we'll get to that in a minute. Unfortunately for Christian, it seems like it was just the beginning of the end for the star center who has struggled to stay sound amid what is otherwise a promising career as the Lakers' star center.

Or perhaps we should say amid what was an otherwise promising career at the Lakers.

On Feb. 12, 2025, Sports Illustrated reported that the Lakers announced that they would be waiving their right to keep Christian, letting the veteran player go to make room for a center working as a free agent, Alex Len.

It's an unfortunate blow to Christian who seems to be struggling with his health, but the Lakers are focused on what's best for the team. And keeping a sidelined center whose knee can't hold up seems like too much to ask from the money-making sports team.

Back to that injury for a moment, because it may have played a big role in why the Lakers opted not to hold onto Christian.

Christian signed with the Lakers in 2023 and was limited to just 50 games in the 2023-2024 season before he suffered that devastating knee injury that took him out for the following season.

According to Sports Illustrated, Christian underwent an arthroscopic procedure in March 2024, designed to treat his knee injury.

In order to stay with the Lakers, Christian exercised his $3 million player option to return for the 2024-2025 season.

Unfortunately, he had to undergo another arthroscopic procedure in September, which delayed his return to the court even further.

Although the Lakers were clearly interested in having him play at their center, he never made it on the court for the 2023-2024 season, making him an expensive benchwarmer.

Back in October, he indicated his knee injury was on the mend, and he hoped to return soon. Per SI.com, he shared, "Things are going good. I think I’m doing better this time around, my second rehab is going well."

He continued, "About to start ramping things up in maybe about two weeks and then I think it’s gonna take maybe another two weeks to try and get back in game shape. I’m thankful that I did the surgery almost immediately when I had the problem with my knee. I think I’ll be back sooner rather than later.”

Sadly, it's clear now that the timeline was unrealistic and he was not able to make it back to the court.

The Lakers may have wanted him to play, but it's clear they feel that it's time to move on.