Could Christian Wood return from injury sooner than expected?

After undergoing knee surgery in the offseason, Christian Wood sounded like someone who was ahead of schedule in his recovery at Lakers Media Day.

The Lakers’ center depth heading into the season was already shallow even before Christian Wood suffered an injury late in the offseason. A second knee surgery in the same calendar year would leave him sidelined for at least eight weeks, according to the Lakers.

However, could he be back sooner?

The team announced the eight-week timeline after his surgery on Sep. 9. That timeline would have him re-evaluated in the first week of November. Given that he would then likely need time to get back in game shape, it feels likely that mid-November would be the best-case scenario for his return.

However, during Media Day on Monday, Wood was certainly giving out a timeline that was much sooner than that. In speaking with Spectrum, Wood said that rehab was going well while discussing the possibility of a return in about four weeks.

“Everything’s good,” Wood said. “The rehab’s been going great. I’m excited to get back early in the season.

“I’ll probably start ramping things up in two weeks. But it’s going to probably take another two weeks after that just to get in game shape.”

Now, he’s speaking in estimates and not absolutes here, but four weeks from now is still in October. That would mean an eight-week re-evaluation would be closer to clearing him to play.

Here’s the deal, though. If it comes down to believing a timeline from a medical staff or a timeline from an NBA player, I’m going to lean toward the medical staff.

But there is the possibility that he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery. And that would be great news for the Lakers, who are going to need him back as soon as possible if nothing else than for insurance in the front court.

For now, it’ll be something to continue monitoring moving forward through training camp, the preseason and into the regular season. But if Wood is able to return sooner than later, that could be great news for the Lakers.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.