Joey Hauser, Max Christie shine in NBA Summer League openers

Max Christie led the Lakers in scoring and Joey Hauser led the Jazz in rebounds in their respective Summer League openers.

Monday kicked off the NBA Summer League and a couple of Spartans in the NBA shined early on. In fact, Joey Hauser led the Jazz in rebounds while Max Christie led the Lakers in scoring.

This was Hauser’s first NBA action since getting signed to a two-way contract by Utah. He’ll be spending time with their G-League team and on the active roster this season. Each NBA team is only allowed to utilize two two-way contracts per year and it’s cool to see Hauser get one.

Christie spent time with the Lakers this past season after getting drafted early in the second round and while he didn’t play a ton, he was considered one of the “untouchable” pieces at the trade deadline. He’s entering year two with high hopes for an increased role.

Well, if he plays like he did on Monday in the Lakers’ first Summer League game, he’ll earn that increased role in no time. He finished with a team-high 17 points on over 50 percent shooting. He also had four assists.

Max Christie had 17 points six rebounds and four assists on 54.5% shooting last night in Summer League #Lakers #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/lOnCr2pPv3

— Spartan Shadows (@Spartan_Shadows) July 4, 2023

It looks like Christie is more aggressive with the ball in his hands and he’s not settling for long-range jumpers. His bag has been expanded.

As for Hauser, he didn’t do much scoring (three points on 1-for-5 shooting) but he led the Jazz with nine rebounds and had three assists.

Joey Hauser knocked down a 3 and had a team leading nine rebounds in his Summer League debut #Jazz #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/MN0mZ2BGWh

— Spartan Shadows (@Spartan_Shadows) July 4, 2023

The shooting isn’t going to be a concern since no one is worried about him knocking down jumpers so it was important that he showed he can do other things well. His rebounding and passing were on point and that had to impress the organization. He’s not just a one-trick pony.

It’ll be fun to watch these two progress during the Summer League while keeping an eye on other Spartans in the NBA (looking at you, Gabe Brown).