Marcus Smart came to the Lakers in basically the same way DeAndre Ayton did: got bought out from a lottery team, signed with a contender that could afford him. Luka wanted Smart, the Lakers obliged and Marcus seemed to appreciate being desired as a teammate. All of that is to say there are as many question marks when it comes to Smart’s impact today as their are answers.
- Old Guard – At 31 years of age (he’ll turn 32 in March) it could be argued that Smart has a year or two of prime level play left in him. That would normally be the case except for that, in Smart’s case, a variety of leg and hand injuries have made his availability the biggest question mark over the last 3 seasons. Since being traded away from Boston Smart’s games played has plummeted (20 in 2023-24 and 34 in 2024-25). It would be one thing if, prior to being traded to a contender with questions marks (Memphis) he had been a bastion of health but his availability has always been a question mark. Of late he has dealt with a variety of injuries to his fingers (which may explain his 33% shooting from three) as well as shoulder and a variety of ankle injuries. All of this is to say that, due to injuries, it’s hard for me to believe we’ll be getting the “prime” version of SMart. In the grand scheme of things, however, it may not be such a big deal.
- The Reputation – Smart earned a rep as a hard-nosed defender who wasn’t afraid to take the shot. He was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22 and was NBA Defense 1st team in 2018-19, 2019-20. and 2021-22. Injuries limited him to 48 games in 2020-21 or it’s likely he would have made it a 4 year run. What’s impressive about that is his stats aren’t eye-popping. He’s never averaged more than 1.8 steals/game and he’s never averaged higher than .5 blocks per game in any season he’s ever played in. It’s one of the reasons I don’t put all that much weight on blocks or steals because they’re such insignificant moments in a basketball game. 2 or 3 shots out of 80 generally don’t swing the game your way. Picking up your man full court, fighting through screens, boxing out bigger players so your team gets the rebound: those are equally, if not more, important than a steal or block. Smart had a solid, if not elite, defensive rating in 4 out of his last 5 seasons in Boston (the only slip being the injury plagued 2020-21 season) where he averaged a 109 defensive rating. Those also coincided with his highest win share output. Since then, all of those numbers have gone down with his win share contribution plummeting. In his youth, when he entered his prime years at 24 years of age, the reputation was well-deserved. Since being traded he’s fallen off quite a bit in terms of his individual contributions to defense. Looking at the win/loss records of the teams he was a part of along with the injuries they sustained to other key players and you can see that there can be some forgiveness there…but not enough to forgive what looks like a decent amount of physical decline.
- The gunner nobody asked for – One of the things people like to throw out there these days is how every team needs a volume shooter. Someone who doesn’t give a fudge and will pull the trigger with a shred of daylight. Marcus Smart comes with those credentials and, frankly, I wish and hope he simply shoots less. A lot less. His shot profile looks great if all you’re looking for is to check analytical boxes and damn the results. For his career 53% of his FGA’s come from three. Unfortunately, he only makes those at a 32.4% clip (for his career). You can find single season examples of better accuracy (2018-19 at 36.3% is the highwater mark) but it’s hard to justify a career 32% shooter taking 4+ 3 pt FGA/game. Which is what Smart does. He shoots…and misses…a lot. Volume analytics at it’s finest, folks. Unfortunately, he’s not much better inside the arc. At a career 38.8% on overall FG% you can’t really call Smart a scorer. He shoots a lot, the results are iffy. At best.
- Why did we sign this guy over Jordan Goodwin? That’s the question I ask myself. A lot. Along with “Why didn’t Coach Reddick play Jordan Goodwin in the playoffs when the game wasn’t over in garbage time?” We likely will never get an answer to those questions but my guesses would be reputation and Luka. Luka wanted Smart, we went out and got Smart. His rep is as a three and D guy but that’s as much based on accomplishments several years into the past as anything concrete today. And so here we are. I think Smart, for the money, is fine. Would I have rather us kept Goodwin for a fraction of the cost? Yes. The speed in which he was snatched up by another team desperate for defense should be all anyone needed to see to confirm that Goodwin has a role on a modern NBA team. Regardless, we went with the name player and we’ll just have to wait and see which version of Smart we end up with. If he can replicate portions of his best seasons we will have made a smart, lucky move. If he continues to regress physically, miss more games than he plays in and continue his slide into NBA obscurity we’ll have lost out on a potential young building block for the future.
- The Role – Smart, like Goodwin, will be coming off the bench. It’s hard to imagine him outplaying Reaves and Rui, both of whom are in contract years, are healthier, and better on both ends of the floor. If we can keep him healthy until the playoffs his role might change based on matchups, but overall I see him as a 20ish MPG player who captains the defense when LeBron sits. Is there a world where we simply need a second guard because Reaves and Luka as the 1/2 guards aren’t good enough ball hawks? Maybe. A starting five of Reaves/Smart/Luka/LeBron/Ayton makes some sense but Rui would have to have an awful camp for that to happen. Rui is in all of our best lineups however you choose to measure them. His 3 and D credentials are as legit, if not better, than the modern version of Smart. Marcus certainly has the historical pedigree but to simply ignore the injuries and piles of missed games due to injury over the course of his career would be folly, in my opinion. Whether it’s his style of play, bad luck or a little bit of both Smart’s biggest issues are consistency in his shooting and his availability. In that he’s basically like the guard version of Jarred Vanderbilt: he needs to prove he can be a threat to score efficiently on fewer FGA’s than he’s accustomed to getting. That can be a lot to ask from a player who is looking to make a amrk on the season to earn a big payday.
We’ll see, my guess is we start the season off protecting Smart from himself and playing him in a limited role as he ramps into true NBA shape. In theory he’s been injury free this summer so hopefully he’s getting that shot working for him and his defensive slides up to speed. He’s my 2nd biggest X factor after Ayton so there’s a lot that could swing on him being the defensive force he once was and finding his shot at a league-average rate.
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