Coming into the season, there were a lot of expectations surrounding Max Christie. After signing a new deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, Christie was spoken about highly by both players and coaches during training camp and looked to be an important part of the rotation.
But Christie struggled at the beginning of the year, ultimately falling out of favor as his shot wasn’t falling and he was making mental mistakes on both ends of the court. But Christie has bounced back since and has thrived in the starting lineup as the Lakers’ primary perimeter defender.
The third-year guard recently opened up about the season so far with Jovan Buha of The Athletic, saying that he felt he was trying too hard to be perfect at the beginning of the year, but is proud of the way he has responded since:
“I think it was tough, for sure. There are a lot of things that happen in the offseason where you get re-signed, I have expectations for myself. Obviously, when you get re-signed, your expectations from the organization are obviously raised too. I think it was a lot of build-up for me. I think I just tried too hard, to be honest. I think I had too much emphasis on trying to play perfectly, do all the right things, and that led to me kind of thinking all the time when I’m out there. I wasn’t flowing. I wasn’t free. I was just rigid, playing like a robot. And for me, it was tough, seeing that happen, and then you see the decline in minutes. Then I’m out of the rotation for a few games.
“So it was tough. But I think looking back at it in hindsight now, I think I actually did a really good job of trying to mentally stay present and working through that. I don’t think I really gave up at any point. There were a lot of times when it felt like I was just in the gutter. But think I did a good job of mentally staying afloat, putting one foot in front the other and keep pulling away. Obviously, I’m out of that now. So, feels good. I’m pretty proud of myself for that. … If I had to talk about a highlight of the season so far, it’s how I bounced back from the beginning.”
That resiliency and not allowing himself to get too down is the type of mindset that led the Lakers to re-signing him this offseason. The franchise believes in his ability to be an impact role player and he is proving them right. And for Christie, turning the corner was more about clearing things up mentally than anything else:
“I think a lot of it was not really soul-searching, but I looked in the mirror and asked myself, ‘What could I do better as an individual player? How can I put myself in a better position to be more successful?’ And a lot of it for me was just my mental approach. I think I had some things I needed to clean up in my head, some things I needed to clean up in my social circle and whatnot. Just empty a lot of things and get back to basketball. I think I did a good job of making tough decisions and getting right back. Keeping the main thing, the main thing, really.
“It’s always good whenever I’m kind of struggling a little bit, to put the work in and trust that. That made me ready for that San Antonio game. I had to try and stack as many of those (games) together. I think I had a couple of good games. And now I feel completely comfortable.”
Christie has really settled into his role in the starting lineup, taking on the task of defending the opposition’s best guard while being ready as a spot-up shooter. He has also started knocking down shots from deep, which is a huge boost for the Lakers given their lack of two-way players.
JJ Redick: Max Christie starting gives Lakers more defensive optionality
Max Christie has the size, speed and length to defend many different kinds of players and for head coach JJ Redick, him starting allows for the Lakers to give many different looks defensively.
“I think Max being in the lineup gives us a little more optionality with how we want to match up with teams,” Redick said. “Within the game, not necessarily how we start matchups, but then being able to cross-match, which we did against Golden State.
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