Cam Reddish got hurt this week, so the Los Angeles Lakers had to start a new player against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Max Christie, a second-year guard, was picked by Darvin Ham to start with D’Angelo Russell, Taurean Prince, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.

In the end, L.A. lost because their late comeback failed, and the Lakers only lost their second game in eight games. Christie had a hard time getting things going in 23 minutes after coming on as a substitute for the starting five. In the end, he scored seven points by making three of seven field goals and was a game-low -19.

It was Davis’s first game of the season, and things didn’t go as planned. What does he like about Christie? How can the young guard help the team this season?

“He’s versatile; he can shoot, play off the dribble, and defend.” In his first race, he looked great. Yes, there are some things that we can fix together and on our own, but I think Max did a good job. Putting him in tough situations and making him guard great players like Luka and Kyrie takes a team effort on defense, but he did a great job on his own.

There are many things that Davis and James have done really well as Lakers coaches, but one of them is getting the most out of younger players. In Austin Reaves’s rookie year, they helped him become a regular player in the mix. As the year goes on, they might be able to do the same for Christie.

When Reddish got hurt, Ham turned to Christie. This shows how much the Lakers believe in him to do well this season. Even though it won’t always be easy or go as planned, those kinds of lessons will only help him improve as a player and bring out the things Davis liked about him.