Lakers News: Darvin Ham Responds To Christian Wood's Mysterious Pre-Hawks Tweet

The Lakers opted to start third-string center over Christian Wood on Tuesday night.

Christian Wood tweeted three letters, "lol" before your Los Angeles Lakers' 138-122 game against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

Lol

— 35 (@Chriswood_5) January 31, 2024

Jovan Buha of The Athletic speculated that it had to do with third-string center Jaxson Hayes getting the start over Wood with Anthony Davis out for a second straight game with bilateral Achilles tendinopathy and left hip spasms.

During head coach Darvin Ham's postgame press conference, he was asked about the cryptic message from Wood.

“I’m not on social media,” Ham said. “I don’t have everybody running and grabbing hold of stuff like that and throwing it at me unless it’s presented to me in this forum. That said, there’s a lot of things he and all of us can do better. I thought he was solid overall tonight. Tried to help give us a chance. And we decided to keep him in his role and where he’s been for some time, and give Jax the opportunity to come out with the energy he played with last night. …

We’re constantly looking for balance with our lineup. It’s not a popularity contest. We’re looking to mix and match our players that will be most effective in helping us get a win.”

Per Darvin Ham via The Athletic

“We gotta look ourselves in the mirror and man up.” Darvin Ham speaks on the hard travel this season and Christian Wood’s tweet before the game. pic.twitter.com/RURxxoBaR4

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 31, 2024

This wasn't the first time Wood tweeted a cryptic message without context. He tweeted the same message on Sept. 26, 2022.

Through 43 games this season, Wood is averaging 7.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.