Max Christie was lost in the madness of the Luka Doncic trade. Viewed as a throw-in within the most polarizing NBA trade of all time, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2022 second-round pick became a well-known name for reasons that had nothing to do with his game.
With the first anniversary of the trade fast approaching, Christie is making himself a well-known name for reasons on the court.
The 22-year-old guard is in the midst of a breakout with the Dallas Mavericks that is starting to get the attention of the entire league. Christie is scoring a career-high 13 points per game while shooting over 45% from beyond the arc. On Thursday night, Christie had another head-turning performance, dropping 21 points on the Golden State Warriors en route to a 123-115 Mavericks win.
It's always nice to see former Lakers succeeding around the league, but it does make it a bit painful seeing Christie develop into exactly what the Lakers could use right now.
Max Christie is becoming the perfect role player for the Lakers... on the Mavericks
Christie has been nothing short of remarkable over the last three weeks. In his last 10 games played he is averaging 18.3 points on an incredible 46% shooting from beyond the arc. He's scored in double figures in all 10 games.
Christie is doing all this while playing serviceable defense on the perimeter as well. Nobody would call Christie a defensive specialist, but he certainly can hold his own and has proven that this season. His injection of energy certainly would do wonders for the Lakers this season.
The Lakers' defense is slow. It's lethargic. It's the old lawnmower that needs several pulls at the rip cord to get going. It ranks in the bottom five in the league in defensive efficiency. As great as the offense is, the Lakers won't go anywhere without defense.
Christie would be an injection of jet fuel that brings new life to the Lakers' defense. Too bad he plays in Dallas now.
To be fair, the Lakers would redo the Doncic trade 100 times out of 100 if given the opportunity. Anthony Davis' career has hit a free fall due to injuries and he soon may be traded himself. Trading away a young role player is part of the cost of landing a generational superstar.
But it doesn't change the fact that Christie would be perfect on this Lakers team as an isolation defender who could benefit from the gravity of Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves by hitting open three-point shots. The Lakers would undoubtedly be better if Christie were on the team instead of Marcus Smart.
Perhaps the Lakers could realize this and swing a trade for Christie at the deadline. Even that seems unlikely, though, as the Mavericks have absolutely no reason to sell low on this legitimate asset that they stumbled into.
Beggars can't be choosers and Mavs fans will undoubtedly roll their eyes hearing how perfect Christie would be on this year's Lakers team. But it still would've been nice if the Lakers somehow made the trade even more lopsided and kept Christie around.