The Los Angeles Lakers are searching for answers on the defensive end of the floor. The offense ranks among the best in the NBA through seven games, but Los Angeles is hemorrhaging points and first-year head coach JJ Redick is exploring his options.
Unfortunately for Max Christie, that led to a surprising change in the rotation, as Cam Reddish effectively took his place against the Detroit Pistons.
Christie has struggled in 2024-25, shooting 28.6 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from beyond the arc. It's been a disappointing display after the 21-year-old re-signed with the Lakers on a four-year, $32 million contract.
Just one game removed from his best game of the season, however, Christie received a mere four minutes of playing time against Detroit.
Christie was replaced in the rotation by Reddish, who made his second appearance of the 2024-25 regular season against the Pistons. Reddish played 14 minutes, pulling down five rebounds and coming up with a steal while producing an impressive plus-minus of plus-10 in a 115-103 loss.
Reddish's physicality on defense proved essential to the Lakers getting back into the game, but one can't help but wonder what his emergence could mean for Christie.
Cam Reddish replaced Max Christie in the Lakers' rotation against Detroit
There's no sugarcoating it: Christie has been objectively bad through seven games. His jump shot has been nowhere to be found and the Lakers are being outscored by an unfathomable 28 points per 100 possessions when he's on the court.
As Los Angeles struggles to find answers to why the second unit has been among the worst in the NBA thus far, it's understandable for Redick to consider benching Christie.
If that decision is ultimately made, however, it must be a temporary move. Developing Christie should be one of the top priorities for the Lakers in 2024-25, as his limited playing time in 2022-23 and 2023-24 prevented him from learning how to play through his dry spells.
Reddish should get minutes if he's helping the Lakers win—and thus far, the team has a net rating of plus-22.0 when he's on the court—but Christie must not be forgotten.
Christie's current quality of play is so far below what he's done through two seasons that there's no rational way to judge it as anything other than a statistical anomaly. He shot 37.8 percent from beyond the arc through his first two seasons, with an adequate sample size of 180 attempts.
The fact that he's shooting 23.1 percent from distance in 2024-25 should be a clear indication of how realistic it is to believe that Christie will return to form sooner rather than later.
Giving Christie the opportunity to learn from these mistakes will be essential to the Lakers potentially developing a productive bench by the end of the season. Christie and rookie Dalton Knecht have the tools to become high-quality players, but they must be allowed to learn from their mistakes rather than being removed from the rotation entirely.
All will likely become clearer once the Lakers are done with their brutal five-game road trip, but keeping Christie in the rotation must be the goal.