The Dallas Mavericks wasted a great opportunity to add to their win total this season Monday night, as they lost to a banged-up Denver Nuggets squad that did not have Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon, 98-97. Perhaps even more confounding was the limited minutes that Mavs head coach Jason Kidd gave Christian Wood.
The Mavs played Wood for just a total of 17 minutes off the bench. Following the game, Wood gave a little bit of his thought about his seeming lack of playing time this season.
“I would love to play more. I’ve voiced that several times, but I just play my role,” Wood said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
It was a forgettable contest for the Mavs and for Wood from an individual standpoint, as he barely made an impact in those 17 minutes he was on the floor, scoring just five points on 2-for-3 shooting, though, he was able to collect seven rebounds and dish out a couple of dimes. Still, those were well below the numbers Mavs fans expected he'd provide on a nightly basis, especially since he was viewed as the team's de facto replacement for Kristaps Porzingis.
So far in his first season with the Mavs, Wood is averaging 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds in 24.6 minutes per game — significantly lower than the minutes he enjoyed in the previous two seasons with the Houston Rockets.
Dallas will always be focused on Luka Doncic, but Wood remains an integral part of the Mavs. It would be interesting how many minutes Kidd will let Wood have on Wednesday against the Boston Celtics on the road.
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