Max Christie placed a tournament.
NBA trade chatter is slowly but surely picking up, and the Los Angeles Lakers are—as per usual—generating plenty of buzz.
More buzz than they likely feel is warranted, based on the latest whispers out of Hollywood.
While L.A. looms as a potential suitor for some of the bigger names on the market, the Lakers don’t believe they need to make an impact addition. Not yet, anyway.
Rather than pursuing an external upgrade, “the Lakers, at present, are focused on internal improvement,” per Marc Stein. While a cynic might perceive this report as posturing, there are reasons to believe the Lakers can solve some of their biggest puzzles in-house.
Take the recent play of Max Christie, for instance.
The second-year shooting guard entered the season with legitimate expectations after scorching his way through summer league, but he couldn’t find a rotation spot early on. It wasn’t until injuries paved him a path to the hardwood that he started dropping hints about becoming the helpful rotation player so many envisioned.
He has started each of his last two times out—in place of the injured Cam Reddish—and played a key role in powering the Purple and Gold to their latest triumph. During Saturday’s six-point road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Christie tallied 12 points, five rebounds and three assists over his 33 minutes and earned praise for his defensive effort on Donovan Mitchell, who misfired on 14 of his 18 field-goal attempts and shot just 1-of-7 against Christie, per NBA.com.
NBA trade chatter is slowly but surely picking up, and the Los Angeles Lakers are—as per usual—generating plenty of buzz.
More buzz than they likely feel is warranted, based on the latest whispers out of Hollywood.
While L.A. looms as a potential suitor for some of the bigger names on the market, the Lakers don’t believe they need to make an impact addition. Not yet, anyway.
Rather than pursuing an external upgrade, “the Lakers, at present, are focused on internal improvement,” per Marc Stein. While a cynic might perceive this report as posturing, there are reasons to believe the Lakers can solve some of their biggest puzzles in-house.
Take the recent play of Max Christie, for instance.
The second-year shooting guard entered the season with legitimate expectations after scorching his way through summer league, but he couldn’t find a rotation spot early on. It wasn’t until injuries paved him a path to the hardwood that he started dropping hints about becoming the helpful rotation player so many envisioned.
He has started each of his last two times out—in place of the injured Cam Reddish—and played a key role in powering the Purple and Gold to their latest triumph. During Saturday’s six-point road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Christie tallied 12 points, five rebounds and three assists over his 33 minutes and earned praise for his defensive effort on Donovan Mitchell, who misfired on 14 of his 18 field-goal attempts and shot just 1-of-7 against Christie, per NBA.com.