EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — When LeBron James returned from his two-game absence on Dec. 15, there was a shroud of mystery regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ healthy starting lineup.
Coach JJ Redick had rotated D’Angelo Russell, Cam Reddish and Dalton Knecht through the second backcourt spot next to Austin Reaves, with James, Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura in the frontcourt. When asked about what he was looking for from the fifth starter, Redick described his ideal fit, which implied the competition was down to Max Christie and Gabe Vincent.
“Ideally, we want to have that fifth guy be a complementary piece to the other four guys,” Redick said then. “And that complementary piece most likely looks like a point-of-attack defender. A guy that doesn’t need the ball in his hands. He’s gonna play hard, he’s gonna pick up full court. Could shoot 3s.”
The player Redick described ultimately was Christie, the 21-year-old 3-and-D wing the Lakers invested in over the offseason with a four-year, $32 million deal. The third-year player started the season slowly, though, shooting under 34 percent and struggling with his decision-making as he fell out of the rotation after nine games.
But after a short-handed stretch allowed him to return to the rotation temporarily, Christie has been a mainstay and has played his way into a starting spot. As a starter for the past seven games entering Saturday, Christie has averaged over 10 points per game, shot over 42 percent on 3s and held his own defensively against the likes of Ja Morant, De’Aaron Fox and Cade Cunningham. Coming into the weekend, the Lakers were 6-2 overall with Christie in the starting group and 4.9 points per 100 possessions better defensively with him on the floor over the recent five-game stretch with the other four starters.
“I told you guys our first preseason game. I said that to our coaching staff. I said, ‘It would make a lot of sense for our team if Max was the fifth guy,’” Redick said. “I like that group right now.”
Christie spoke with The Athletic recently about the adversity he faced at the beginning of the season, how he persevered through feeling as though he was in the “gutter,” his fit with the starting lineup and more.
(Editor’s note: This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.)
Let’s start at the beginning of the season. The Lakers re-sign you over the summer. There are high expectations for you in Year 3. You have high expectations for yourself. And then to go through, I don’t know if I’d call it adversity …
Yeah, I would call it adversity. Yeah.
It wasn’t the start you wanted. What was it like to go through that?
I think it was tough, for sure. There are a lot of things that happen in the offseason where you get re-signed, I have expectations for myself. Obviously, when you get re-signed, your expectations from the organization are obviously raised too. I think it was a lot of build-up for me. I think I just tried too hard, to be honest. I think I had too much emphasis on trying to play perfectly, do all the right things, and that led to me kind of thinking all the time when I’m out there. I wasn’t flowing. I wasn’t free. I was just rigid, playing like a robot. And for me, it was tough, seeing that happen, and then you see the decline in minutes. Then I’m out of the rotation for a few games.
So it was tough. But I think looking back at it in hindsight now, I think I actually did a really good job of trying to mentally stay present and working through that. I don’t think I really gave up at any point. There were a lot of times when it felt like I was just in the gutter. But think I did a good job of mentally staying afloat, putting one foot in front the other and keep pulling away. Obviously, I’m out of that now. So, feels good. I’m pretty proud of myself for that. … If I had to talk about a highlight of the season so far, it’s how I bounced back from the beginning.
How did you stay mentally present during that period? How did you recalibrate?
I think a lot of it was not really soul-searching, but I looked in the mirror and asked myself, ‘What could I do better as an individual player? How can I put myself in a better position to be more successful?’ And a lot of it for me was just my mental approach. I think I had some things I needed to clean up in my head, some things I needed to clean up in my social circle and whatnot. Just empty a lot of things and get back to basketball. I think I did a good job of making tough decisions and getting right back. Keeping the main thing, the main thing, really.
It’s always good whenever I’m kind of struggling a little bit, to put the work in and trust that. That made me ready for that San Antonio game. I had to try and stack as many of those (games) together. I think I had a couple of good games. And now I feel completely comfortable.
With the San Antonio game, when you return to the rotation, what’s that moment for you like of not putting too much pressure on yourself again but also trying to make the most of the opportunity?
That day in general, there was a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiousness, a lot of excitement. It was kind of that uncomfortable feeling in your chest where you hadn’t played in a few games, you hadn’t played well in a few games and now you’re getting called on. You need to go contribute. I think it was an (NBA Cup) game, so the stakes are a little bit higher than normal. So throughout the day, I did a lot of mental preparation, trying to calm myself down a little bit. Focused on the things that I could control.
Then I just went out there and my body did its thing, and I got back to what I usually do. And I brought a lot of energy on defense. I made a (3-pointer) or two. Just thought I impacted the game a lot by being out there and having a lot of energy and being myself instead of trying to be perfect. I allowed myself to make some mistakes. I allowed myself to just play free, and I think it showed.
Max Christie and Anthony Davis defend a drive by Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan. (Jonathan Hui / Imagn Images)
We’ve had this past month-plus of you back in the rotation and playing your way into the starting lineup. What has this stretch been like? Is this everything you envisioned and wanted for yourself entering the season?
It’s been really good so far, honestly. I look back at it and reflect on my whole career up to this point. I hadn’t really played a lot, and then I was just trying to work and work and work. In my head and at home after games, I’m thinking about how I want to play more and stuff like that. And now I’m starting. So it’s cool to see the growth.
For me right now, all I want to do is try to continue to replicate as many of these past (few) games as best as I possibly can. I know that the starting job can be revoked at any point. Or else, how did I get there, right? Someone had to (lose it). So I had to and have to continue to stay locked in on the fact that it’s not guaranteed. I’ve been playing well as a starter. We’ve been winning games. It’s cool. But I have to continue to stack these games and try to do my best to continue to make an impact on the game. So it’s been cool, for sure, just from a perspective standpoint, a reflective standpoint, to see how far I’ve come from my rookie year to now.
What do you remember about when JJ told you that you were going to be starting? There had been some mystery about who the fifth starter was going to be.
It was pretty cool for me. Again, it was one of those moments where it’s something that, like, I’ve been vying for, something I wanted. And then when he told me that he was gonna start me for a few games, the first initial reaction is you’re excited. But it’s that feeling in your chest where you’re excited, you’re anxious, you’re nervous because now you want to perform, right? The first thought, I think it’s just human nature, you get that and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to mess up, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that.’ So that was the initial feeling. And then, again, I have a whole process that I go through mentally.
And then I think the Memphis game (Dec. 15), I had a great defensive game. I don’t even think I scored many points in that game, but defensively, I was really, really good. So when I did that, and then we go to (Sacramento) for two games and win two games on the road, and now my confidence is getting even higher. We play Detroit, I have a good game. We lose, but offensively, I played pretty well, and defensively, I had a solid game too. And then we win a huge game on Christmas. Again, I think I contributed pretty well to that game as well. So again, it’s the stacking of the games that’s really helping me out, I think, with my confidence especially, and we’re winning too.
Your free-throw rate has more than doubled this season. We talked about you attacking closeouts on my podcast over the summer. How much of an emphasis have you put into trying to get to the rim and draw more fouls?
I think it’s just aggressiveness and assertiveness on offense. I’m not necessarily going in there trying to get fouled, but the fact that I’m just attacking and being aggressive, guys have a lot of hands. They swipe down. I’ve also picked up a few tricks from Austin and a couple of guys.
I was wondering if Austin was an influence.
I mean, he hasn’t necessarily taught me that, but I’m watching. That’s where two years of sitting down and watching really helps. That’s just Austin. Seeing other guys throughout the league too. I remember in the Detroit game I had that and-1 where I swept through, and it was so natural to me and I didn’t think about doing it before. But the fact that I’ve seen Austin do it, DeMar (DeRozan) does it a lot, seeing guys like that do it all the time, and I pick up on it, so it helps. I think the fact that I’m being assertive and aggressive to the rim, shot-faking and just taking off my athletic ability has allowed me to get to the free-throw line a lot. And I’m a pretty good free-throw shooter, so that helps me with points and what not, and helps the team win games, too, so it’s good.
What has worked so well with the new starting group defensively? Obviously, inserting you helps with the defensive end. But what have you liked about the lineup together?
I think when you talk about defense and me being tasked with the point of attack, or the best player, the best perimeter player, if I set the tone on the guy to start, it just trickles down into everybody else. It trickles down into their offense, too, when I’m picking them full court, wearing their guys down a little bit. I’m trying to wear them down, slowing their offense down a little bit. I’m doing my best just to make it as difficult as I can.
And two, I always try to bring energy. I always try to close out as hard as I can. I always try to rebound as hard as I can. I just try to play as hard as I can. I think it’s sort of contagious to a lot of the other guys. I think that helps us on defense too. We’re playing with a lot of energy. We’re closing out hard work. We’re gang rebounding, and we flow down on offense, and we got guys that can really score, obviously. … I know I’m not going to be perfect. We’re going against good players in the league. Sometimes guys are going to have their nights. And other times, I might have a good night defensively. But I think the main thing for me is to try to bring as much energy as I can, and that’ll infect everybody else.
(Top photo of Max Christie: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
