EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — There’s a 22-minute video on YouTube of Marcus Smart’s greatest plays as a member of the Boston Celtics, 36 different moments of exactly the kinds of plays the Lakers are hoping he can make now that he’s on their team.
The clips show it all — meeting LeBron James at the rim to block a dunk, sticking a paw in between a Shai-Gilgeous Alexander crossover, fighting off Joel Embiid for a putback, splashing jumpers over Kyrie Irving, beating Giannis Antetokounmpo to a loose ball and ripping a steal out of Franz Wagner’s hands. It’s the resume of a big-time player making big-time plays in big-time games.
It’s just that these big-time games … they kinda happened a long time ago.
LeBron and Kyrie are playing for the Cavs in the video. SGA doesn’t have braids or a headband. Embiid was in a protective facemask (and otherwise healthy). Antetokounmpo was in that phase where he was still trying to harness his athleticism, and so on and so forth — one big play pressed against a reminder of a time in the NBA gone by.
Marcus Smart can make winning plays; he’s shown it. It’s just been a minute.
Tuesday afternoon, he arrived at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo in a black Cadillac Escalade, greeted by an embrace from Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka. Both men are hopeful there are more moments to be delivered, more possessions to be secured with a dive into the crowd or with a sprawl to the court.
“I still have a lot left in the tank,” Smart said.
Injuries have gotten in the way the past two seasons, with Smart playing only 54 out of a possible 164 games since the Celtics traded him in 2023. Ankle and finger injuries have been the main culprits, but the 31-year-old former Defensive Player of the Year has dealt with shoulder and knee issues, too.
But the Lakers are in position to bet precisely on someone like Smart in this moment, signing him for $5.1 million after Smart secured a buyout with the Washington Wizards. If those past injuries aren’t flukes, if they are just the costs of a career where every loose ball was worth risking it all for, then the Lakers aren’t committed beyond a modest player option for next season.
If they are flukes, the Lakers got a player Luka Dončić specifically wanted to play with.
“When you get a guy like Luka calling, referencing, checking on you, trying to see where you at … to see if you want to come and join something special that he’s trying to cook up over here,” Smart said. “And for him to say that he can really use my help, that meant a lot.”
Marcus Smart, while playing for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2024, tries to fend off new teammate Luka Dončić. (Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports)
The Lakers definitely need Smart’s help. The roster lacks the kind of player who could credibly try and stop James or Dončić, the kind of player who can free up Austin Reaves from being the primary defender called upon to slow the best backcourt players the Lakers face.
“Just to be me. Come in and do what I do and that’s a tenacious defender, just bringing the intensity that I bring, my leadership, my basketball IQ as well,” Smart said of his role. “But just being the pest that I’ve always been.”
He’s done it. Deandre Ayton has done the things that made him the No. 1 pick and a starting center in the NBA Finals, too. But both players sacrificed portions of their salary to leave their situations, both having their salaries subsidized by competitors as they try to rebuild their careers with the Lakers.
The Lakers and Pelinka’s summer has hinged on these kinds of bets, that the Lakers’ situation, plus some motivation from being discarded, can answer some of the team’s biggest questions.
With Smart, the proof is there that he can earn wins and that he can do it on a massive stage with expectations in the rafters and a rabid fan base in the seats. Feeling that again was part of the reason he came to Los Angeles.
“It’s at the top. I mean, the main goal, the reason you go out and you compete the way you compete is to try to win championships and what better place to be able to do that than here, where the show starts and where the show ends?” Smart said. “So, that was definitely a big part of it, being able to get back on that stage, being able to get to a team that definitely could use me. And I know I can make an impact and I can help as well and that was a perfect fit here.”
Will it be good enough in the West? Smart thinks it might be.
“I think we stack right up there with the best of them,” Smart said. “And I think we can [compete]. Our ceiling is high. I think there’s no ceiling. I think if we all lock in and come and do what we’re supposed to do, we can have a real good shot at it.”
For it to happen, Smart’s got to be on the court and he’s got to be the version of himself that fills that 22-minute highlight reel. He’s got to torture Steph Curry, frustrate Gilgeous-Alexander, fight with Nikola Jokić for rebounds and beat Anthony Edwards to loose balls.
We know Dončić thinks he can do it. And Tuesday, we got confirmation that Smart believes him.
“I’m very motivated,” he said.
(Photo: Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)
