Max Christie is coming into his own and the Lakers are thriving as a result

After a rough start to his season, Lakers guard Max Christie has proved a vital piece of the starting lineup as he continues to make big strides

LOS ANGELES - The NBA is a “what have you done for me lately” league and no one has learned that more this season than Max Christie.

After entering the year with a new contract, a new head coach with lots of belief in him and a new role as sixth man, a poor start to the season saw him fall all the way out of the rotation less than a month into the season.

But with head coach JJ Redick searching for solutions amid a three-game losing streak in early December, Christie was given another opportunity, having earned his way back into regular minutes.

And since then, he hasn’t looked back.

On Thursday against the Blazers, Christie showed just how much he’s grown as a player since that start to the season, scoring a career-high 28 points. He hit five 3-pointers in 32 minutes and only LeBron James logged more time on the floor.

The Lakers needed everything Christie could provide, given that Anthony Davis was out with a sprained ankle and Dorian Finney Smith and Shake Milton still getting acclimated, as they held on for a 114-106 victory.

For Christie, it was a night where he showed the surest signs of his potential and continued to make good on his head coach’s belief in him.

“You have to learn how to be a pro,” Redick said, “and by that, I mean you have to learn how to do the same thing every night to the point where you’re reliable and the coach can’t take you off the court. And that’s where the growth I’ve seen from Max over the last six to eight weeks.”

These intangibles and hard-to-identify metrics are precisely why Max got the contract and raise this summer. He’s a player who generally gets it.

He does the dirty work and embraces defending the best perimeter players. Christie crashes the boards hard and if he can be relied upon to knock down the open shot, he’ll make it harder and harder to remove him from the starting lineup.

But Christie is still learning on the fly and those moments of struggle can still be seen throughout the game as well.

“I didn’t think his first run was good in terms of his defensive disposition,” Redick said. “He also took two mid-range shots and I wanted to really wring his neck. And what he got back in the game, I thought his career night started with changing the disposition on defense.

“The other thing is, we talked about him developing as an initiator for the offense because we’re down a ball handler right now. We probably had 10 to 12 possessions where he had to bring it up, including some possessions late game. There were two close calls, but he didn’t have any turnovers on those plays. I thought that was big again for him and his development, just getting him into these situations, I think is huge.”

One of these dicey moments Redick referenced came during the fourth when the Lakers’ lead shrunk to just three points with 2:23 left to play. Instead of spotting up in the corner as he typically does, Christie navigated a pick and roll with LeBron and while his pass barely reached James’ hands, he was able to handle it and score to give L.A. a two-possession advantage.

The following offensive set, Christie stepped up again, got fouled on a shot attempt and sunk his free throws to all but secure the result.

These are the highs and lows for a young player trying to develop in the high-pressure environment of Los Angeles. The growing pains are common. Luckily, Christie is now passing these tests more often than he is failing.

“I thought my positive self-talk was really good in that moment,” Christie said. “I was able to kind of keep me going. I had a couple threes and had a couple of nice reads on the backside to cut to the basket, get a few dunks.

“So I just think tonight I was aggressive, I was assertive and I stayed positive with my self-talking even after a little bit of a slow start.”

While a 28-point outing is unrealistic for Christie every night, his recent play is a standard he can reach. Since taking over as a starter, Christie is averaging 12.1 points per game, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He’s also knocking down 44% of his 3-point attempts.

With D’Angelo Russell gone, guard minutes are up for the taking and if he continues to play as he has since early December, just like Redick said, Christie will force his coach's hand and be a legit starter on a team with championship aspirations.

Progress is not a straight line and undoubtedly, there will be more unexpected bumps on the road.

However, if the first game of 2025 is any indication, Max will win those trials and tribulations more than he loses and that’s good news for him and this franchise as they continue their journey toward becoming contenders in the West.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.