The Los Angeles Lakers’ first preseason game of the new year was a bit disappointing. They fell to the Golden State Warriors, 125-108, at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Their offense was sporadic, especially in terms of efficiency, and it may have been partly because head coach Darvin Ham gave heavy playing time to his reserves and rookies. As a result, the team’s lineups didn’t look too cohesive on either end of the floor.
But a bright spot in Saturday’s loss to the Warriors was second-year wing Max Christie. After shining brightly in summer league play in July, the former Michigan State University standout played a team-high 25 minutes and scored 15 points on 6-of-10 overall shooting and 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
Ham had plenty of good things to say about Christie once the game ended (at 2:26).
“He’s a guy that's gonna be one of our most versatile basketball players on the roster.” Darvin Ham speaks on Max Christie’s role on the team. pic.twitter.com/3753V7x6DB
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 8, 2023
“He’s a guy that’s gonna be one of our most versatile basketball players on the roster,” said Ham. “He can guard multiple positions from the 1 to the 3 and some 4s. I want him to be aggressive in that manner and take on those challenges, and then offensively, the same thing. He can catch and shoot with the best of them and I want him to be comfortable shooting that 3 and also playing downhill, playing to the paint, playing to the rim.”
The Lakers have been hoping Christie will develop into a 3-and-D player, but based on what he did in summer league play, perhaps he also has some potential as a player who can create for himself off the dribble, both in terms of attacking the rim and hitting pull-up jumpers.