Lakers Notes: James, Christie, Finney-Smith, Trade Assets

All-NBA Lakers forward LeBron James, who’s been the league’s oldest active player since the start of the 2023/24 season, turns 40 on Monday. As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press notes, James will become the first player in league history to suit up during his teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s. James will also become only the 30th player ever to log a regular season contest in his 40s.

“In some ways he’s a freak of nature,” said league commissioner Adam Silver of James. “I’ve been around a lot of great players and he’s one of the hardest-working players I’ve been around. I mean, he doesn’t take a day off. He seems to not take an afternoon off. He’s always working on some part of his body. You meet with him and he’s always soaking something or eating something with some contraption attached to him.”

The four-time league MVP continues to look like an All-Star, while playing in his 22nd season for the 18-13 Lakers. He’s averaging 23.5 points on .496/.357/.767 shooting splits, along with 9.0 rebounds and 7.9 boards a night.

There’s more out of Los Angeles:

• Although Lakers swingman Max Christie started his third season a bit unsteadily, he has rounded into form of late, and prior to L.A.’s trade for three-and-D wing Dorian Finney-Smith and point guard Shake Milton, Christie had emerged as head coach JJ Redick‘s choice to round out his starting five. The arrival of Finney-Smith may change his role, but Christie has finally begun to deliver on the promise of the four-year, $32MM deal he inked to stay with Los Angeles over the summer. During a lengthy interview with The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, Christie addressed his big third pro season. “There are a lot of things that happen in the offseason where you get re-signed, I have expectations for myself,” Christie said. “I think I had too much emphasis on trying to play perfectly [early in the season], do all the right things, and that led to me kind of thinking all the time when I’m out there. I wasn’t flowing. I wasn’t free.” Christie has really made the most of his time back in the rotation over the past month. “It’s been really good so far, honestly. I look back at it and reflect on my whole career up to this point,” Christie said. “I hadn’t really played a lot, and then I was just trying to work and work and work.”
• The Lakers surrendered three second-round draft picks to acquire Finney-Smith and Milton, in addition to the expiring $18.7MM deal of reserve guard D’Angelo Russell and second-year forward Maxwell Lewis. Zach Harper of The Athletic praises the deal for Los Angeles team president Rob Pelinka. Harper projects that the 6’7″ Finney-Smith will immediately join the Lakers’ starting lineup, with Christie being promoted back to the bench. He’ll add defensive length along the perimeter, plus a solid three-point shooting stroke. Harper is pessimistic that Milton will crack Redick’s rotation ahead of reserve point guard Gabe Vincent.
• Just who gets demoted to the Lakers’ bench has yet to be determined. Jovan Buha of The Athletic thinks forward Rui Hachimura could become a reserve, meaning Max Christie would play alongside Finney-Smith in a new starting unit. Buha notes that the deal will help free up some money for Los Angeles. The team is now $3.5MM below the league’s restrictive second tax apron. Losing Russell means the Lakers are sacrificing some playmaking, while gaining defense and off-ball shooting. Los Angeles still has some trade assets at its disposal if it wants to continue making deals. In addition to two remaining second-round picks and three first-round pick swaps, the Lakers have three tradable future first-round draft selections, but can move only two at most due to the Stepien rule.