Coming into this season, it was clear that the Los Angeles Lakers would be relying on Max Christie to make a leap in his third season and he looked poised to do so. However, a rough start to the season, especially offensively, saw him fall out of the rotation in place of veteran wing Cam Reddish.
A couple of injuries to Reddish and Rui Hachimura, however, have seen head coach JJ Redick turn back to Christie and the young guard has responded well with two strong performances in back-to-back games. Even though Christie couldn’t get his shot to fall in the Lakers’ win over the New Orleans Pelicans, he still played excellent defense and came up with a huge offensive rebound late in the game.