According to Los Angeles Daily reporter Anthony F. Irwin, Los Angeles Lakers management hopes that the team's wing player, Max Christie, can take on a more important role next season. Irwin said the Lakers really want to get Christie more minutes and take on more important tasks. Lakers management was very unhappy with the way Darvin Ham used Christie last season, and they felt that Ham completely did not realize the potential and value of Christie, which was a big reason why management gradually became disillusioned with Ham and eventually fired him.
Interestingly, according to previous information from Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Woike, the Los Angeles Lakers will do whatever it takes to keep Christie. Although there are already many teams in the league that have expressed a high level of interest in him, according to Woike, no matter what offer other teams make for Christie, the Lakers will not hesitate to match any contract that Christie accepts. In this way, although the Lakers' total salary is still high, and even close to the second local tyrant line, the Lakers still have an attitude of ambition towards Christie.
In the NBA regular season this season, Christie played a total of 67 games for the team, averaging 14.1 minutes per game, averaging 4.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, shooting 42.7% from the field, 35.6% from three-point range, and 78.3% from the free throw line. Christie's performance in the first half of the season was actually quite good, and he also established himself in the team for a while, but in the second half of the season, Christie played less and less minutes, and even gradually fell out of the team's rotation. In the playoffs, Christie didn't get a chance to play, and Ham chose to trust the veterans more, but the reality is that the veterans are generally very poor, which is a key factor in the Lakers' serious lack of competitiveness in the playoffs.
Christie, the Lakers' 35th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, is considered to have tremendous talent and potential to tap into and have the opportunity to be a very good wing player. In fact, judging by Christie's performances in the Summer League last summer and the first half of the regular season, he did show a lot of improvement, and he is more than capable of becoming a qualified 3-and-D type wing player. I wonder what kind of contract Christie will get next, and if he can stay with the Lakers, how will he play next season?