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It’s Media Day for nearly every team around the NBA, which always means it’s time for a yearly tradition unlike any other: #MuscleWatch, the annual declaration and tracking of who has put on muscle, who is in the best shape of their life, and everything in between.
The Lakers had a few participants in the event this year, with Max Christie, Cam Reddish, and even rookie guard Jalen Hood-Schifino getting in on the action.
Christie talked the most about how much “mass” he has added in the hopes of securing a role in the rotation during his second year, discussing it during his main podium appearance with the assembled media, as well as during individual sitdowns with the Spectrum SportsNet and ESPNLA crews:
Max Christie says getting stronger in the weight room remains his biggest focus. Says it'll help him defensively to "hold his own" and take his defense "to another level."
— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) October 2, 2023
Max Christie said on @SpectrumSN that he put on "15-20 pounds" of muscle.
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) October 2, 2023
"I still look pretty slim, but (I'm) a little more muscular."
Max Christie said he's "put on a lot of mass." #MassWatch
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) October 2, 2023
Max Christie on balancing working on his shoot + adding muscle mass: pic.twitter.com/bmgrAKtg28
— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) October 2, 2023
Reddish was more conservative in his mass-timates.
“I think I gained about 12 pounds,” he told Mike Bresnahan on Spectrum SportsNet.
“World-class organization, world-class vets. I’m just trying to take it all in and learn a lot.” Cam Reddish speaks on his experience joining the #LakeShow. pic.twitter.com/eX0IY3BFzi
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 2, 2023
Add it all up, and that’s at minimum 27 total pounds of muscle that the Lakers have added to their collective frames! Hell yeah.
And that may not even be the end of it, as while Hood-Schifino didn’t put a number on it, he also said he’s added some bulk this summer ahead of his first NBA campaign:
Jalen Hood-Schifino says he's put on a "lot more muscle" this summer #MuscleWatch
— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) October 2, 2023
Hood-Schifino is listed at 215 pounds on Basketball-Reference, which is the same weight the Lakers listed him at on their training camp roster. But maybe more of it is muscle now! either way, every young, skinny guy on the team is looking as strong as they ever have heading into training camp.
Well, for except maybe Christian Wood, whose post defense Anthony Davis decided to slander for absolutely no reason when asked about his own offensive versatility during his sitdown with the Spectrum crew (emphasis mine).
“Just spacing. Read how the defense is playing. You have some bigs who don’t like to guard on the perimeter, and so you try to space them out,” Davis said. “Then there’s guys, usually perimeter — like I used to punish Christian Wood (laughs) — guys like CWood, you take them in the post. So just having a mix.”
No word yet on if that comment will lead to Wood getting in some more weight room time with Max Christie or noted mass enthusiast and Lakers director of basketball affairs Kurt Rambis, but we’ll keep you posted.
You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
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