Lakers News: Reporter Projects Major Backcourt Training Camp Competition

LA has some rotation issues to suss out.

Following a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals as a seventh seed last spring, your recharged Los Angeles Lakers are set to kick off their training camp for the 2023-24 season October 3th. Obviously, they hope they've made enough roster tweaks to get a bit further than a four-game sweep to the Denver Nuggets next spring.

Darius Soriano of Lakers.com writes that perhaps one of the more interesting rotational battles will be the fight for the right to back up starting shooting guard Austin Reaves. This opinion from Soriano in and of itself is an interesting take, given that both the starting point guard and power forward positions seem a bit up in the air, too.

Soriano believes that the competition will be between second-year swingman Max Christie, a 6'6" shooting guard selected with the No. 35 pick out of Michigan State by LA last year, and former lottery pick Cam Reddish, a new 6'8" veteran's minimum signing by the Lakers this summer.

Christie already had all the outlines of being an intriguing 3-and-D project before LA traded for more experienced wing reinforcements midseason. Though his averages of 3.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists per 12.5 minutes don't look like much, his tantalizing three-point (41.9% on 1.5 attempts) and free throw (87.5% on 0.4 looks) shooting numbers sure do, albeit on minimal output.

Across three Summer League contests in Las Vegas this year, Christie averaged 19 points, 6.3 boards, 3.7 assists and 2.3 blocks per. Soriano also praised his pressure defense on the ball handler.

Reddish, meanwhile, has shown some promise during his stints with the Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers across his four pro seasons thus far. Still just 24, the hyper-athletic wing projects as a solid defender and rim-runner, though his lackluster shooting (he "boasts" middling shooting splits of .399/.322/.843) makes him an on-paper awkward fit alongside the less-than-great shooting of stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.Text

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