An early-season disappointment for the Los Angeles Lakers was Max Christie, who got rewarded with a new contract this past offseason. L.A. displayed their faith in Christie by giving him a four-year, $32 million contract and setting him up for a spot in the rotation under head coach JJ Redick.
After not playing much in his first two seasons and having an inconsistent role, many expected the former Michigan State Spartan to shine with a consistent bench role this season.
However, his shooting and decision making were not good enough to stay in the rotation through the first handful of games of the season. But, Christie got another opportunity on Friday night against the San Antonio Spurs and made the most of it with his best performance on the year. After the win, Redick expressed how happy he is for Christie, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Really happy for Max. We’ve had two situations over the last week where a guy has been out of the rotation and then got back in the rotation. In Cam’s (Reddish) case it was starting and then for Max to not be in the rotation for three games and to have the night he had. I’m just happy for him. It’s obvious to me as his coach that he’s capable of doing that every night because I’ve seen it for months. We’ve had a number of discussions and I told him, I said, ‘If you play that way, ’cause I’ve seen you do it, I don’t wanna take you off the court.’ The way that he fronted (Victor) Wembanyama when we went to red 1 through 5 just completely disrupted their half-court rhythm. Got a steal on one, but just thought the physicality, the intent to what his role is tonight was executed to perfection.”
Christie is still only 21-years-old despite being in his third season with the Lakers and there’s no doubt falling out of the rotation once again must have been hard for him. Thankfully, there are 82 games in a season, so there was a chance to turn things around and he made the most of it on Friday.
He will now likely get another chance in the rotation and if Christie is able to stack performances, he could find himself back to becoming one of the first off the bench.
It is also great to see Redick not lose faith in Christie as having a coach that believes in his young players is always positive as the third-year guard continues to navigate life in the NBA.
Max Christie not losing confidence after tough shooting outings
There was anticipation that Max Christie would turn into a quality 3-and-D player for the Lakers. But after having a few rough shooting outings, Christie shared that he will not lose confidence and it seemed to have paid off for him.
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