5 Christian Wood replacements for Mavericks after recent roster news

This past season was a bust for the Dallas Mavericks, who, despite having Luka Doncic leading the way and trading for Kyrie Irving at the deadline, missed the Play-In Tournament entirely.

Re-signing Irving will be the team’s top priority this summer, as the star guard will be an unrestricted free agent, but after that, they need to focus on putting a championship-caliber team around their dynamic duo.

At the end of the day, Dallas simply didn’t have a good enough roster to make things work last year, and it was a complete waste of a season. And when Doncic is on the roster, you can’t afford to have many of those.

Dallas is set to make big-time changes to the roster this summer, and it will all start with the center position, according to long-time NBA insider Marc Stein and his newsletter, “The Stein Line.” (Subscription required)

Stein reported that the Mavericks are set to move on from big man Christian Wood, who they acquired in a trade last summer, and “are looking to remake their center rotation.”

Wood’s single season in Dallas was a tumultuous one, to say the last. He was set to be the team’s sixth man, much to the surprise of Mavericks fans, and his role fluctuated throughout the season.

Solid counting stats were counteracted by a lack of defensive presence, and in the end, his addition to the team wasn’t enough to make up for the loss of star guard Jalen Brunson.

Now, as the Mavericks attempt to rebuild their center rotation, they will have to look to free agency and the trade market in an attempt to replace Wood.

Here are five potential options they could target this summer.