Charlotte Hornets Decline Team Option on Christian Wood
Christian Wood‘s time with the Charlotte Hornets appears to already be up as they decline his team option for next season.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, “Charlotte has declined the team option on forward Christian Wood for the 2017-’18 season, making Wood an unrestricted free agent.” With the cut, the Charlotte Hornets open up a roster spot. The young big man only spent one season with the team after being signed last summer to a two-year deal.
According to Bobby Marks, this move has no impact on the Hornets’ cap space entering the offseason. Charlotte only had five days after the final game of the season to decide on whether or not to accept Wood’s team option for next year. (Twitter.com)He was set to make $1.4 million next season.
During his one year with the Hornets, Christian averaged 2.7 points per game and 2.2 rebounds per game. He only appeared in 13 outings and shot 52.2% from the field. It was a less than stellar season for the 21-year old but he did have glimpses of brilliance. Wood still has plenty of potential but he wasn’t growing in Charlotte.
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The UNLV product split time between the Hornets and their D-League affiliate in the Greensboro Swarm this season. In 18 games with Greensboro, he averaged 19.6 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game. That success in the D-League didn’t translate well to the NBA level.
Wood was a developmental signing for Charlotte but he never quite panned out the way they had hoped. In reality, he would be better suited as a D-League player at this point in his career as he is still growing. The potential is there but the production at the highest level isn’t. The Hornets just didn’t want to commit another season to a developing prospect.
Christian was always more of an experiment for the team. Unfortunately, he struggled during his brief time with the Hornets. His athleticism was intriguing but there was no development in key parts of his game. Since going undrafted in 2015, Wood has played with the two teams in the past two seasons.
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Wood will now be an unrestricted free agent while Charlotte will be looking for a replacement this summer. Wood was never going to be more than just an emergency big man under Steve Clifford and although he has potential, Coach Clifford never trusted him enough to play Christian consistent minutes.