Former Spartans Star Reflects on Massive Growth in Breakout NBA Season
The first couple of years of Max Christie's NBA career were rough, as the former Michigan State Spartans star tried to find his way with the Los Angeles Lakers.
But this season, Christie appears to be establishing himself as a major piece.
The 21-year-old has started 10 of the 31 games in which he has played and is averaging 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds over 22 minutes a night on 43.4/35.0/87.3 shooting splits.
Christie has displayed terrific potential as a two-way player, and he has been growing more and more as the season has progressed.
During a recent interview with Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Christie explained how his increased role has felt for him during the 2024-25 campaign.
"It’s been really good so far, honestly," Christie said. "I look back at it and reflect on my whole career up to this point. I hadn’t really played a lot, and then I was just trying to work and work and work. In my head and at home after games, I’m thinking about how I want to play more and stuff like that. And now I’m starting. So it’s cool to see the growth."
Christie spent just one season at East Lansing in 2021-22, logging 9.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He decided to enter the NBA Draft after that year and ended up slipping into the second round, where he was selected by the Lakers.
Had Christie spent another year at Michigan State, he may very well have been a first-round pick—may even a lottery selection — in 2023, but it appears that his gamble has paid off.
"It’s cool. But I have to continue to stack these games and try to do my best to continue to make an impact on the game," Christie added. "So it’s been cool, for sure, just from a perspective standpoint, a reflective standpoint, to see how far I’ve come from my rookie year to now."
Los Angeles has had a topsy-turvy campaign overall, so it could definitely use even more progression from Christie the rest of the way.
We'll see if the Spartans product continues to improve as we get deeper into the NBA season.
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