Cormac Karl "Max" Christie Jr. (born February 10, 2003) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. He was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

s in the 2021 class.

High school career

Christie played basketball for

Rolling Meadows High School Rolling Meadows High School, RMHS, is a public four-year high school located in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214, the second largest high sc ...

Rolling Meadows, Illinois Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 24,200. History In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of in an area ...

and was teammates with his younger brother, Cameron. In his freshman season, he averaged 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists per game. As a sophomore, Christie averaged 25.5 points, ten rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He scored a career-high 51 points against Elk Grove High School. In his junior season, Christie averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds per game, earning

Pioneer Press The Pioneer Press publishes 32 local newspapers in the Chicago area. It is a division of Tribune Publishing, and is based in Chicago. The community newspapers are the main source of local news in Illinois communities such as Winnetka, Highland ...

Player of the Year honors. As a senior, he averaged 24.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.1 steals per game, leading his team to a 15–0 record. Christie was selected as ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' Player of the Year, '' News-Gazette'' All-State Player of the Year and Illinois

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

. He was named to the rosters for the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Bl ...

and

Nike Hoop Summit The Nike Hoop Summit is an international men's basketball all-star game sponsored by Nike, held once a year since 1995, except from 2001–2003, which features the USA Basketball Men's Junior Select Team against a World Select Team of internationa ...

Recruiting

Christie was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top

s in the 2021 class. On July 7, 2020, he committed to playing college basketball for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

over offers from

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Villanova and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, among others.

College career

On January 5, 2022, Christie scored a season-high 21 points in a 79–67 win against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 9.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and was named to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman Team. On April 1, 2022, Christie declared for the 2022 NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility and on May 16 announced he would hire an agent and remain in the draft.

Professional career

Los Angeles Lakers (2022–present)

Christie was selected by the

in the second round of the 2022 NBA draft with the 35th overall pick. Christie joined the Lakers'

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

roster. In his Summer League debut, Christie scored five points and nine rebounds in a 100–66 California Classic win against the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

. On July 8, 2022, Christie signed his rookie scale contract with the Lakers. He was assigned to the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first National Basketball Associa ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

on March 8, 2023. He was recalled by the Los Angeles Lakers from South Bay two days later. On December 9, 2023, Christie and the Lakers won the inaugural season of the NBA In-Season Tournament.

National team career

Christie represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Brazil. He averaged 9.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, helping his team win the gold medal.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

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Playoffs

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College

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, 35 , , 35 , , 30.8 , , .382 , , .317 , , .824 , , 3.5 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .5 , , 9.3

Personal life

Christie's mother, Katrina, played college basketball at Northwestern, scoring over 1,000 points, and is a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

. His father, Max Sr., played college basketball at

Parkland College Parkland College is a public community college in Champaign, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505 which includes parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquoi ...

and Wisconsin–Superior before becoming an

aircraft pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. His brother Cam is a collegiate basketball player at

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota in NCAA Division I college basketball competition. The Golden Gophers competes in the Big Ten Conference and play their home games at the Williams Arena. T ...

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Max 2003 births Living people American men's basketball players Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Los Angeles Lakers players McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Sportspeople from Arlington Heights, Illinois Basketball players from Cook County, Illinois Shooting guards South Bay Lakers players