3 teams who could sign Christian Wood away from the Detroit Pistons

PORTLAND, OREGON - FEBRUARY 23: Christian Wood #35, then of the Detroit Pistons reacts in the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OREGON - FEBRUARY 23: Christian Wood #35, then of the Detroit Pistons reacts in the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
1 of 4
Christian Wood #35 of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
Christian Wood #35 of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

The Detroit Pistons have found a diamond in the rough with Christian Wood, but are they in danger of another franchise signing him this summer?

At this point it goes without say that the story of Christian Wood‘s development with the Detroit Pistons this year is not only one of the best story lines of the NBA season, but also one of the lesser talked about ones.

While we’ve been hitting on this a ton recently, you still won’t find anything from national outlets talking about it. To be totally fair, it makes sense. The Pistons aren’t exactly in a position where anyone’s going to out of their way to praise them.

However, the fact remains that Wood’s transcendence as an athlete and as a scorer this year have been unbelievable. He’s someone who six months ago wasn’t even guaranteed a spot on the Pistons roster, and now has become one of, if not the top scoring option.

In the absence of Derrick Rose, one could certainly make an argument that he’s the number one option.

He’s being introduced last in the starting lineup, he’s successfully won over the hearts of a majority of the fan base, and he’s completely dominating in every game that he plays.

Now, some are advocating that he should be in the conversation for Most Improved Player this season. He certainly would have an interesting case, however with someone like Brandon Ingram having the season he is, it feels like it’d be a bit of a long shot.

The departure of Andre Drummond at the trade deadline has given us a look at an iteration of Wood that we’ve not yet seen.

Since that February 6th trade, he’s been averaging 22.0 points and 10.2 rebounds per game on 54.0 percent shooting, and while his three-point shooting has taken a bit of a dive recently, he’s still shooting 37.3 percent.

It goes without say that Wood will get a substantial pay increase regardless of where he ends up this summer. The odds are that Detroit will pay him whatever they need to in order to retain him.

In terms of what that figure could look like remains to be seen. We had speculated about this around a month ago, but given his new role and his elevated play, that price range could be subject to change.

However in the event that another team were to swoop in at the eleventh hour and sign him away from the Pistons, no matter how unlikely it may be, who could some of those teams be?