The heart and soul of a former Boston Celtic would exacerbate the Lakers’ greatest vulnerability.
Robert Marvi of Lakers Wire believes that Los Angeles might benefit greatly from a trade for Marcus Smart, but he also believes that the former Boston Celtics will hurt the Lakers even more at their most vulnerable position, which is undoubtedly 3-point shooting.
Smart is averaging a career-high 14.5 points per game this season. He can also make plays for others and take some of the playmaking and ball-handling load off LeBron James. Marvi began, “Smart would give L.A. an outstanding defender who is also at least somewhat capable offensively.”
“The big negative is Smart’s poor 3-point shooting, which would make the team’s biggest weakness even worse.”
A three-team blockbuster trade that included the Lakers, Smart, Luke Kennard, John Konchar, Xavier Tillman Sr., Dorian Finney-Smith, and a trade exception ($10.5 million), the Brooklyn Nets getting back to work with D’Angelo Russell, and the Memphis Grizzlies receiving Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Harry Giles III, a 2029 first-round pick, and trade exceptions ($8.3 million, $2.4 million, and $1.9 million) were the reason for the Smart-Lakers trade.
Marcus Smart Boston Celtics supporters find it too difficult to consider LeBron James’s Lakers fans.
This is a thought-provoking puzzle.
On one side, the Lakers landing Smart would be objectively chaotic for their spacing and may add an explosive personality; something LeBron teams don’t usually navigate well (see: Kyrie Irving on the Cleveland Cavaliers).
Even yet, Celtics supporters find Smart’s purple-and-gold attire to be so obnoxious that it would almost completely ruin an L.A. vs. Boston game.
Smart’s injury undoubtedly keeps him in Memphis for the time being. The Grizzlies are still unsure about their backcourt combination with Smart and Ja Morant because of the latter’s season-ending shoulder injury, which prevented him from playing in the first 25 games of the 2023–24 season due to suspension.
