Max Christie Couldn’t Sleep After Lakers Traded Him To Mavericks: ‘I Was On The Floor In The Hotel Room’

February 25, 2025

During an interview with NBA reporter Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Max Christie opened up about being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks.

The Lakers traded Christie and Anthony Davis to the Mavericks for Luka Doncic in what is being called the most shocking trade in NBA history.

“I had my suspicions when I got that call,” Christie said. “The emotions at that moment obviously were pretty overwhelming. And then going back to the hotel room, I got zero seconds of sleep that night. I was up from 12 [a.m.] to 8:15 [a.m.] I had a flight the next morning at 8:30 to go to Dallas. I was in denial a little bit, at first. I can’t believe this is happening.

“If you look at the magnitude of that trade, it magnifies that emotion. So, I was shocked, man. I was on the floor in the hotel room for two hours just thinking about what was going on. I eventually came to my senses, obviously, and had to put one foot in front of the other and think about what I needed to do next. So far, I’ve had a good job just kind of settling in and just trying to stay present. That’s the biggest thing for me is just being present here, trying to help this team win games.”

The Lakers beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on February 1. Christie had 15 points in 32 minutes while shooting 60.0% from the field.

A few hours later, he and Davis were notified that they were being traded to the Mavericks for Doncic.

“I have moments still in my room or when I’m alone where I’m like, ‘I can’t believe that I’m still here.’ I’m very present where I’m at,” Christie said. “I’m very happy to be here. It’s really nice to get to know my new teammates and we’ve been winning a lot of games so far since I’ve been here. But I’m still human. There are definitely moments where I’m like, ‘I was in L.A. for two and a half years and I felt very, very comfortable there.’ And then I just kind got uprooted and left, which is the business of the NBA and that’s how life works.”

Christie is averaging 15.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists with the Mavericks. The 22-year-old is shooting 50.0% overall, 43.6% from 3 and 84.0% from the free-throw line.