Klay Thompson's brutal benching clears Mavericks youngster's path to stardom

Despite losing in abysmal fashion to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday evening, the Dallas Mavericks and head coach Jason Kidd finally opted to shake up the starting lineup, as Kidd ran with D'Angelo Russell instead of Klay Thompson in the starting five. Thompson responded well, chipping in 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists off 4-7 shooting from the field.

However, despite a solid performance from Thompson in 21 minutes, Kidd proving he wasn't reluctant to bench Thompson bodes well for Max Christie's hopes of staying in the starting lineup, even when Kyrie Irving returns from injury.

Christie has been one of the few bright spots for the Mavericks this season, as the 22-year-old's summer work has translated well to the court this year, as he's looked more comfortable attacking off closeouts, handling the ball in space, and has shot just a hedge under 50 percent from outside. Obviously, Christie likely won't shoot that efficiently all season long, but he's been extremely polished and is doing all the little things for Dallas, as he's also been a great cutter, for instance.

Max Christie now has a clear runway to reach his ceiling in Dallas

This was already Christie's fifth game in Dallas' starting five, as Kidd put him in the starting unit after Dereck Lively II suffered a knee sprain following Dallas' win over the Toronto Raptors in their third game of the year. Christie has been solid at the point of attack this season as well, even if he's not coming up with as many steals or deflections as last year in the early season, as he's been a great one-on-one defender thus far.

Christie has teased some of his mid-range shot creation ability once again this season, and he's done better in the in-between game as well, as he's been able to walk into some wide-open floaters through his ability to effectively crab dribble when getting defending guards on his hip in the pick and roll.

Given Christie's age, work ethic, as well as the fact that he's shown continual improvement throughout every season of his young career, it's without a doubt that Kidd's benching of Thompson could give Christie the opportunity to take sole possession of Dallas' starting shooting guard position and potentially become a star.

Through only eight games, this is obviously not a definitive change the Mavericks will make for the rest of the season, especially if Thompson starts shooting the ball the way he has before in his career, but Christie is definitely solid enough to make a case for Thompson to be Dallas' permanent sixth man.

Christie has easily been the third or fourth best Maverick this season, and it's hard to keep a player that important to your roster out of the starting lineup, so he's giving himself a great shot at remaining in the starting lineup and elevating in his role, even when Irving returns. Christie is starting to show he may have far more potential than fans initially thought when Dallas made the Luka Doncic trade, maybe even All-Star potential one day, so Mavericks fans can be excited for this silver lining.