Marcus Smart has often had LeBron James as his defensive assignment, and he’s happy that’s over now that he’s a Laker.
Throughout Marcus Smart’s career, he has had many battles with LeBron James and the Lakers.
Even in limited action last year, Smart had more defensive head-to-head matchups with LeBron than any other player he faced.
The NBA’s All-time leading scorer fared pretty well during these contests. LeBron scored 17 points across two games against Smart. He also shot 4-5 from 3-point range.
So, when Smart discussed joining the Lakers during his sit-down interview with Spectrum SportsNet, it’s no surprise that he mentioned being excited to join LeBron’s side.
“It’s not every day you get to play against, let alone with, one of the greatest players to ever play this game. We all know his IQ of this game is ridiculous and playing against him you see it tenfold. To be able to be on the other side to witness it and benefit from it instead of him taking me out with it on the defensive end, just to be able to soak it all in like a sponge is an opportunity I’m blessed to have.”
Smart sharing the floor with James gives the Lakers tremendous size, the defensive switching head coach JJ Redick relishes and another experienced player who knows what it takes to play championship-level basketball.
This, along with the Lakers’ desire for a point of attack defender, is why they waived Shake Milton and Jordan Goodwin to bring Smart onto the roster.
Smart knows his role will be to complement and uplift L.A.’s playmakers. He’s shown an ability to do that in Boston when he played alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Now he’ll do so with LeBron and he won’t have to worry about defending him this season, which sounds like a relief for Smart.
The pairing of Smart and James might not be the most important on the roster, but all the pieces matter.
Hopefully, the transition from rivals to peers for LeBron and Smart will turn them into a net-positive duo, while also providing Los Angeles with the defender they’ve been looking for.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.