3 questionable trades Raptors were right to avoid in 2022
By Mike Luciano
2. Christian Wood
Wood can ball, but his tenure in Houston had him moving dangerously close to that DeAndre Jordan/Hassan Whiteside tier where strong traditional box score stats masks his actual impact on the game. Dallas did a nice job trading for him in order to get Luka Doncic some help, but the price was quite high for Toronto.
Wood, who averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last year, was traded for a first-round pack and essentially the entire back end of the rotation (Sterling Brown and Boban Marjanovic were the headliners). Losing Four players and a pick for someone who was getting phased out for Alperen Sengun is a tall order Toronto.
The Toronto Raptors may not need Christian Wood.
Wood is good for a double-double regularly, but his interior defense was incredibly suspect. Houston had roster constriction issues aside from him, but Stephen Silas’ teams have continuously ranked among the league’s worst in points per game overall.
Imagine Ujiri losing a first-rounder once again and also dismantling the bench by sending quality role players away to Houston. The Raptors will be better off leaning on their Pascal Siakam-Precious Achiuwa tag team at center than they would have been pulling out the stops for Wood.