When the Los Angeles Lakers called Max Christie’s name with the 35th pick in 2022, a lot of casual fans did a double-take. They looked up max christie college stats and saw a field goal percentage that started with a three.
38.2%.
Honestly, in the modern era of high-efficiency basketball, that’s usually a red flag the size of a billboard. But if you talk to anyone who actually sat through those grueling Michigan State games in 2021-22, they’ll tell you the box score was a total liar. Tom Izzo doesn't play freshmen 31 minutes a night unless they are doing something right.
Christie was the prized five-star recruit out of Rolling Meadows High School, a kid who arrived in East Lansing with a "pure" shooting stroke that scouts drooled over. But as we often see with young wings, the transition to the physical Big Ten was a rollercoaster. He finished his lone collegiate season averaging 9.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game.
Those aren't superstar numbers. They aren't even "lottery pick" numbers. But they were exactly what a grit-and-grind Spartan team needed to stay afloat.
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The Raw Data: A Deep Look at the Numbers
To understand why Christie is now a valuable piece in the NBA, you have to dissect that one year under Izzo. He started all 35 games. Think about that. For a freshman at Michigan State, that's almost unheard of. It shows a level of trust and defensive reliability that the raw shooting percentages completely mask.
The shooting splits were, let's be real, kinda rough:
He shot 38.2% from the floor and 31.7% from three-point range. However, his free-throw shooting told a different story. He knocked down 82.4% of his shots from the charity stripe. In the scouting world, free-throw percentage is often considered a better indicator of "true" shooting touch than three-point percentage for 19-year-olds. It proves the mechanics are sound; the variance is just a matter of strength and rhythm.
He wasn't just a floor spacer, though. Christie grabbed 121 total rebounds (3.5 per game) and showed flashes of being a secondary playmaker, though his 1.5 assists were balanced out by 1.5 turnovers. He was a "net-neutral" on the ball but a "net-positive" in the system.
Peak Performance and the Big Ten Grind
If you want to see the "real" Max Christie, you look at the Nebraska game on January 5, 2022. He exploded for a career-high 21 points, going 7-of-9 from the floor. He looked effortless. Smooth. It was the version of Max that everyone expected when he stepped on campus.
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But the Big Ten season is a meat grinder. By February, the fatigue was clearly hitting. Scouts noticed that many of his missed threes were falling short—a classic sign of "freshman legs." Over his final 16 games, he only hit double-digit scoring three times. His percentage from deep cratered during that stretch, which is why the final season average looks so underwhelming.
Why NBA Scouts Ignored the "Bad" Max Christie College Stats
You’ve probably wondered why a guy shooting 38% gets drafted into the NBA after one year. It's because the NBA doesn't draft for what you did in college; they draft for what you can do in their system.
- Defensive IQ: Christie was shockingly good on the defensive end. He had the footwork to stay in front of smaller guards and the 6'9" wingspan to bother wings.
- The "Izzo" Effect: Playing for Tom Izzo is basically a four-month internship in "how to play pro basketball." You learn how to set screens, how to rotate on the weak side, and how to survive a practice that feels like a wrestling match.
- Shot Preparation: Even when the ball wasn't going in, Christie’s "off-ball" movement was elite. He moved like a pro. He relocated to open windows, ran the lanes in transition, and never stopped moving.
He was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, an acknowledgment that he was one of the most impactful newcomers in the conference despite the shooting slump. He won Big Ten Freshman of the Week four different times. That’s more than most Spartans legends did in their first year.
The Myth of the Underperformer
There’s a narrative that Christie "failed" at MSU. That’s nonsense.
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The Spartans weren't a high-octane offensive team that year. Every possession was a grind. He wasn't playing in a "pace and space" system; he was playing in a "hammer them inside and hope for a midrange bucket" system. When you're a thin 190-pound kid trying to finish at the rim against 24-year-old "super seniors" in the Big Ten, your efficiency is going to take a hit.
Advanced Metrics Worth Noting
If we look past the points and percentages, Christie's value shows up in the margins:
- He played 1,078 minutes—the most on the team.
- He maintained a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 10.5.
- He recorded 17 blocks and 18 steals, showing he wasn't a liability on the perimeter.
His "Effective Field Goal Percentage" ($eFG%$) was 44.9%. Again, not world-breaking, but when you consider he was often forced into late-clock situations because the offense stalled, it’s understandable.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you are looking at Max Christie's trajectory, the college stats are merely a baseline, not a ceiling. Here is how to actually use this information:
- Look at the FT% as the Anchor: Whenever you see a young player struggle from deep, check the free-throw line. Christie's 82.4% was the "green light" for the Lakers' front office.
- Contextualize the Environment: Michigan State's offense in 2021-22 ranked 40th in Adjusted Efficiency (KenPom). It wasn't a "bad" offense, but it wasn't designed to make a skinny wing look like Kevin Durant.
- Weight the "Freshman Wall": Christie's stats through January were significantly better than his stats in March. When evaluating one-and-done players, the early-season "flashes" often tell you more about their talent than the late-season "fatigue."
Ultimately, Max Christie used his time in East Lansing to prove he could handle the minutes, the coaching, and the defensive responsibilities of high-level basketball. The shots eventually started falling in the pros—just like the scouts predicted they would.
To get a better feel for how he’s changed, you should compare these college numbers to his NBA G-League or Summer League splits, where the wider floor and faster pace actually suited his "slidier" style of play much better than the cramped college lane ever did.