3 Lakers who are already primed to get traded this season

Max Christie is primed to get traded by the Lakers

Fans are going to hate to read this, but there is a very real chance that the Los Angeles Lakers trade Max Christie at some point during the 2023-24 season. It is by no means a guarantee as the team won’t be outright shopping him but it is far more realistic than it seemed three weeks ago.

Christie entered the 2023-24 season as a golden child in the eyes of many fans. Many expected Christie to take a massive leap in his second season after playing well in the NBA Summer League and in the preseason.

Instead, Christie has not even been part of the regular rotation. The second-year guard logged one minute in the team’s first four games and only got consistent playing time in game five as the Lakers were down several rotation players.

It is clear that Darvin Ham does not think Christie is ready to make a difference and that isn’t surprising. He is a second-year former second-round pick that is 20 years old. It is very rare for those players to be legitimate impactful guys in their first season.

But that opens the door for a trade. Like with JHS, Christie may be viewed as an asset for another team and the Lakers might be forced to throw him into a trade as a convincing point. It would certainly pain many Lakers fans but it also makes sense to make this kind of move.

Christie is a free agent after this year and there is no guarantee that the team will re-sign him. His development window simply does not match up with the Lakers’ title window. If Los Angeles isn’t going to re-sign him anyway, might as well throw him into a deal to get a sweeter return.