According to Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Woike, the Los Angeles Lakers will do whatever it takes to keep rising star Max Christie, who is about to become a restricted free agent. Woike said the Lakers are expected to agree a new contract with the 21-year-old. There are a number of teams in the league that have expressed a high level of interest in Christie, but according to Woike, the Lakers will match any offer that Christie accepts, no matter what other team makes for 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. Unfortunately, in the playoffs, Christie didn't get any playing opportunities in the series against the Denver Nuggets. Christie's performance is really not bad, he has a decent outside shooting ability on the offensive end, and he can provide some support on the defensive end. It's just that Christie has never been able to gain the trust of head coach Darvin Ham, his playing time is very inconsistent, and he can't be consistent in the team's rotation, which also leads to his ability not being able to play and his status in the team is also up and down.
In fact, based on Christie's performance in the early stages of the season, if he could have gotten more support, he might have already become a qualified 3-and-D type wing player. Now that Ham has been sacked and some of the team's rotation players may also be leaving, Christie could also have the opportunity to get more minutes in the new season. The problem, however, is that with the Lakers' starting point guard D'Angelo Russell somewhat unexpectedly exercising the player option, the Lakers' total salary is already close to the No. 2 line, and in this case, whether they will end up keeping Christie has become a question mark.
Max Christie was the wing's rising star selected by the Lakers with the 35th pick in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft. It is worth mentioning that in this year's NBA draft, the Lakers' city rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, selected Cam Christie, a freshman wing from the University of Minnesota, with the 46th pick in the second round. It is worth mentioning that Cam is Max's younger brother. I wonder if we will have a chance to see the Christie brothers in the Los Angeles derby next season? The L.A. derby would also be a Christie family derby.