The Los Angeles Lakers Didn’t Trade for Christian Wood at the Deadline Due to Luxury Tax Concerns

The Los Angeles Lakers have failed to inspire confidence for the majority of the current NBA campaign and must have disappointed fans, even more, when they opted not to make a trade at the deadline.

It appears the Lakers have decided to both trust and challenge the players on the current roster. It was expected that the team would have looked to trade players such as Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan, yet they held off on any moves.

Of course, trusting the current group to help the team contend for the title isn’t the only reason the Lakers decided against making trades; it may not have even been the biggest. As has been the case on many occasions, the Lakers may have been restricted by luxury tax issues.

They entered the season among the top favorites for the title but betting outlets such as Caesars New York have pushed them down, widening odds on their chances. There was hope that the organization could have taken steps to stem the poor form via trades but that did not happen.

Reporters Dave McMenamin and Ramona Shelburne discussed the lack of moves on the Lakers front during the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast this Tuesday (H/T Silverscreenandroll.com). McMenamin and Shelburne are the journos most in the know when it comes to Lakers affairs and they both suggested that money was behind the team’s hesitance to pull the trigger on switches during the most recent window.

“There was an iteration of the John Wall trade that included Christian Wood that would have involved more money,” McMenamin explained. “I’ve been told from other sources in Houston that there was a message that the Lakers were not willing to take on more money.”

Shelburne added: “That’s kind of the word around the league that the Lakers were making calls, if there was a trade that made sense, they would do it. I’ve heard it described as ‘maybe half-hearted efforts.’ They would do something if it was low-hanging fruit but they weren’t really willing to feel any pain, whether that was luxury tax money, whether that was more encumberment in the future, whether that was draft compensation.

“In other words, they called, they tried to do some things but there wasn’t a sense of the same kind of urgency I think you heard from the players the night of the Milwaukee game and especially after the Portland game.”

There was talk of Christian Wood possibly joining the Lakers this year. Windhorst was among those who claimed the Lakers and Houston Rockets were working on a deal for the player at some point.

Given the way Westbrook’s Lakers career has been going, fans may have been pretty pleased to see the team show him the door and welcome a player like Wood in. The latter seems like he would be a great frontcourt partner for Anthony Davis as he can space the floor but also provide size in the paint.

Davis, of course, is one of the most talented big men we’ve seen in the NBA for some time but his defensive prowess would have made such a pairing even more formidable. With Wood under contract for next season as well, long-term success wouldn’t have been out of the question.

The Rockets forward is putting up solid numbers this season, averaging 17.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest on 48.4 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc, though it’s down from the 21.0 points per game on 51.4 percent shooting overall he posted last season.

Wood is also 26 years old and would offer the Lakers some much-needed youth.

Unfortunately for the 2020 champs, luxury tax concerns have been dictating their moves for the last year or so. It’s why fan favorite Alex Caruso is playing for another team and it’s likely the reason Wood is not going to be a Laker for the time being.

Shelburne, though, noted the Lakers weren’t actively working towards making trades but that shouldn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about, although management may have already resigned to this season being fruitless and aren’t keen on doing anything that could make things harder in the next one.

The Lakers weren’t expected to struggle as much as they have been this season but are now fighting for playoff contention. Controlling owner Jeanie Buss recently revealed having consulted Magic Johnson earlier in the season.

Johnson stepped down as the team’s president of basketball operations in 2019 but is still considered to be part of the organization.

“I just sat down with him,” Buss said to The Athletic, “and I said, ‘Should I be concerned? What are you seeing?’ And he just talked about, you know, the injuries and that the team hadn’t had a chance to be together. … So, you know, he’s very calm and insightful. And it, you know, I appreciate his seeing the big picture instead of reacting to every game.”

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.