The Los Angeles Lakers look extremely similar to the team they had last season. That team finished No. 7 in the Western Conference and lost in five games to the Denver Nuggets in the first round, leading to some criticism about their inactive offseason. Signing Max Christie to a four-year, $32 million contract was their biggest move thus far.
Christie is expected to take on a bigger role under head coach JJ Redick on his new contract than he had last season under former head coach Darvin Ham. At the moment, that — and new rookie Dalton Knecht — figures to be the major changes to the rotation from last season to this one.
But that is of no concern to Christie. In fact, he believes the lack of changes are an advantage given the make-up of some of the league’s recent top teams, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
“I think next season, again, if you kind of look at the blueprint of teams that have been winning recently, for the most part a lot of teams stick together for a while. They’re not really last minute, I mean the Celtics have been around for a while, that group. And they added Jrue Holiday which helped them a lot, but they’ve had that group for a few years. You could say the same for the Timberwolves. They didn’t win, but the run they had in the Playoffs and throughout the season, that group has been together for a little while. So I like the idea of us running it back with the group that we had because we really got along well. I think we had good chemistry together. We just need more experience with each other, and I think going on two and a half years now when we added D-Lo and those guys at the deadline my rookie year, I think we’re getting a lot more reps together and getting more comfortable together. And like you said, we added two rookies with Dalton [Knecht] and Bronny [James], Gabe [Vincent] and [Jarred Vanderbilt] are healthy and I’m looking to make an impact as well. I think, on paper especially, we’re a really really good team. Now we just have to put it into practice and go out and show what we’re capable of. We made the playoffs both years, we ran into a really good Denver team that gave us trouble both years. And like you said, the five-game series was close, we were winning for basically the whole series. For us, we just gotta finish those games, but we’re right there. I like the idea of us, we were right there and we were so close, we might as well just keep trying to build together. I’m looking forward to the season, I think we can really do a good job. And the West is tough, but I think that’ll help us.”
Christie has an interesting point that has not been oft-discussed with recent top teams. Most of the discussion around roster construction has been with the return of traditional big men and an emphasis on wing depth, but many recent teams have had roster consistency as well.
The Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics both won with large parts of their core playing together for multiple years. The Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves needed full years to work out the kinks of their core before going on longer runs.
Perhaps the Lakers will show improvement in their second full season together, or L.A. might turn around and make a major deal before the start of the season that significantly improves them.
Max Christie discusses free agency experience
Max Christie spoke about what the experience was like being a free agent for the first time in his career. He and the Lakers agreed to terms before free agency officially opened, but he still enjoyed the summer as a free agent and was excited to return to L.A.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!