TUESDAY, 7:24pm: Upon clearing waivers, Wood is expected to join the Sixers’ D-League’s affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, a league source informed Adam Johnson of the D-League Digest (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 12:47pm: The move is official, the team announced via press release.
11:39am: The Sixers will release power forward Christian Wood to make room for Elton Brand, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Brand is poised to sign with the team today, as Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported about an hour ago, and the Sixers, with 15 players on the roster, have to offload one of them to make way for Brand. Wood has a four-year deal for the minimum salary, but only $50K was guaranteed. He’s earned more than that $50K by sticking on the roster as long as he has, so the Sixers won’t owe him any more money if they cut him today.
It would be no surprise to see Wood go, as he’s seen only 13 minutes of action for Philadelphia since November 20th. The Sixers have assigned him to the D-League three times since then, and the team has yet to recall him from his most recent assignment, which began December 18th. The undrafted rookie from UNLV has averaged 3.6 points in 8.1 minutes per game in 14 appearances on the NBA level. His D-League numbers were much better, naturally, as he posted 15.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in 27.0 minutes per contest, but it appears they weren’t attractive enough to keep him on an NBA roster.
Philadelphia chose to retain Wood for opening night instead of shooting guard Scottie Wilbekin, in spite of Wilbekin’s $200K partial guarantee. Wood, one of the most well-regarded prospects to be passed over on draft night this year, reportedly struck a deal with the Rockets shortly after the draft, but that never materialized into a formal signing, allowing the Sixers to swoop in. Houston has an open roster spot, though the Rockets would have to wait for Wood to clear waivers to revisit the idea of adding him.
Do you think we’ll see Wood in the NBA again soon? Leave a comment to tell us.
People thought he was a big sleeper last year. Someone will stash him just in case.