The Los Angeles Lakers are still searching for stability. LeBron James is subtweeting after blowout losses. Christian Wood is posting cryptic messages shortly after starting lineups are announced. Proven successful groupings are going untested. None of the players seem happy about the combination of lineups being deployed by Ham.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are 24-25, coming off a double back-to-back blowout, and facing road contests against the Boston Celtics (without LeBron and Anthony Davis) and New York Knicks. The Feb. 8 trade deadline looms large.

Here's one polite suggestion for the embattled head coach: Make a little more room in the rotation for Max Christie.

Why Max Christie deserves more playing time for Lakers

The Lakers won't solve all their problems within this GRAMMYs-induced six-game road trip (especially with LeBron and AD sidelined). However, they can immediately clean up their effort and defensive commitment.

Christie has played 58 total minutes in the last five games, which includes a double-overtime bout. He's averaging 11.6 minutes over the team's 2-3 skid and has eclipsed 11 minutes just once. That's not enough!

To be fair to Ham, Christie hasn't made the sort of dramatic strides in his second season that many Lakers fans surely expected (see: no Rising Stars game invite). The 20-year-old — at 16.9 minutes, 4.4 more than his rookie campaign — is averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, compared with 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds last year.

More disappointingly, Christie's outside shooting has proven unreliable. He's taking the same number of triples per game (4.4) as 2022-23, but his success rate is down to 33.3% after converting nearly 42% as a rookie. He's making a subpar 34.4% of his catch-and-shoot looks from deep, the vast majority of which have been open, per NBA.com. His corner-3 rate has dipped nearly eight percent. Those numbers — in addition to his painfully slow motion — don't exactly scream “future 3-and-D.” Then again, he's drilling 44.4% on spot-up 3s. For a team that ranks dead last in 3s per game, Christie counts as a relatively promising option.

Back in November, Ham surprised a lot of folks by giving Cam Reddish the first crack at the backup two-guard role (he was soon inserted into the starting group in place of Austin Reaves — a questionable decision that has since been reversed). Explaining his reasoning, Ham said Christie's time to shine will come.

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“Max is going to be here for a long time,” Ham said. Max is one of our young jewels on the roster.”

Christie's minutes and role has fluctuated ever since (he's not the only one).

Giving more opportunity to Christie at this juncture — as the Lakers sputter and Ham's seat rapidly re-warms — may seem counterintuitive. He's still learning the ropes of NBA basketball, and neither LeBron nor Ham has time for that right now. There's a steady dose of sloppy passes, over-eagerness, and defensive miscues.

But, what Christie consistently brings to the table — bounce, buzziness, off-ball movement, constant activity, board-crashing — amounts to just the right helping of juice the Lakers could use on the floor, pretty much at all times. Plus, he fills a specific need for the Lakers as an athletic point-of-attack defender.

It's not like Christie's competitors for minutes offer net positives. Jalen Hood-Schifino is tearing up the G-League but has looked lost in limited NBA action. Gabe Vincent remains out for several weeks with a knee injury. Reddish is out with a sprained ankle, and his usefulness has plummeted since a promising start. Taurean Prince, a trusted veteran, has started every game despite damning lineup data across the board.

Christie may not become a mainstay in the closing backcourt alongside Austin Reaves, as some predicted. He's not ready to be playing 20+ minutes every night for a championship contender, as the Lakers still technically fancy themselves. But, he should be a mainstay in Ham's rotation — at least more than he's been to this point.