Austin Reaves praised Max Christie’s ‘phenomenal’ defense vs. Wolves in preseason opener

Max Christie opened his third season with a bang, showing out in a big way for the Lakers in their preseason opener and drawing the praise of teammate Austin Reaves.

For a third-year player who has had very little on-court impact so far in his career, Max Christie is entering this season with a fair amount of expectation.

Part of that comes from the contract the Lakers handed him this summer. A four-year, $32-million deal comes with an inherent assumption of contribution. On top of that, head coach JJ Redick has singled out Christie on a number of occasions as one of the team’s standout players over the summer.

While Friday was not quite an official start to the season, it was a first look at the team, roster and, specifically, Christie. And while, again, it was just one preseason game, Christie certainly lived up to the hype.

Offensively, it wasn’t perfect, but he mixed in the 3-point shooting he showed last season with attacks on the rim and even a poster dunk to top it off.

Defensively, Christie also built off what he had already shown last season. Christie tallied a steal and a pair of blocks and showed he could offer a change of pace off the bench this season to complement either of the Lakers’ starting guards.

After the game, Austin Reaves spoke about Max’s work on that end of the floor.

“Yeah, I think Max was phenomenal defensively,” Reaves said. “I don’t know how many blocks he had but, just being physical and when guys got around the rim to go shoot a lay up, he’d go make a play on the ball. With his athleticism, his physicality, that’s going to be big for us this year.”

Christie provides the Lakers a big guard who can defend, something they don’t have on the roster. While Russell and Reaves are bigger guards, neither is great defensively. Christie’s guard counterpart off the bench, Gabe Vincent, is solid defensively but is on the smaller side.

Because of all that, Christie was already going to have a pretty clear role on this team as a rotation piece this season. Despite this being his third year in the league, Christie is still just 21 years old. He’s the second-youngest player on the roster and a full two years younger than rookie Dalton Knecht.

If he can take the step forward this season that the front office and Redick both seemed to expect heading into the season, the Lakers could have another young gem moving forward.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.