Christian Wood (PF/C, DET): Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 21% of leagues

ANALYSIS: A little over a month ago, Christian Wood kicked December off with a monster performance against San Antonio: 28 points and 10 rebounds to go with two assists, a steal, and a block on a 78.6 percent shooting night in which he logged a 34.3 usage rate. That was peak-Wood in 2019 and he's not performed to that level ever since. The good news for his owners (and you should be one soon if you're not already) is that Detroit's situation at the forward/center position is looking brighter by the day for Wood's and his bettors' interests.

To recap: the Pistons might move Andre Drummond before losing him for nothing this summer; Blake Griffin has played horribly bad this season, seems to be more than a little banged up and might be shut down for the year early; and Marcus Morris is losing playing time here and there due to health issues. With all of those problems around the team, Wood is primed to keep seeing playing time and raise his minutes nightly.

Wood has logged more than 18 minutes in seven of his last nine games going back to Dec. 14 and in those games he's averaging 11.8 points, 7.6 boards, and 1.1 assists. His usage has been average at around 20% but that might change if either one or both of Griffin and Drummond leave a definitive hole in Detroit's lineup, even more considering Wood has scored at a 48.2% clip from the floor in those aforementioned seven games of "extended" run.