Plenty of people expect Marcus Smart to make a significant impact on the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Smart, the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year, may not be the same caliber of player he was just a few years ago, but he could be close enough to his old self to help elevate a Lakers team that badly needs defense.

Defense is the reason many consider the Lakers to be more or less short of being a championship-caliber team. That deficiency has led some to suggest that coach JJ Redick move Smart, who signed with them last month, into the starting lineup in place of forward Rui Hachimura.

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One scout echoed that sentiment and explained how such a move would help the rest of the team on both ends of the floor (h/t Lakers Daily).

“JJ should start Marcus over Rui,” the NBA scout said. “They need a point-of-attack defender in the starting lineup and they won’t have one if they start Luka [Doncic], Austin {Reaves], Rui, LeBron [James] and [Deandre] Ayton. I would start Marcus over Rui.

“Rui would absolutely feast on offense playing against bench players, and Marcus can guard guys like Ant (Anthony Edwards), Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), Steph (Stephen Curry) so Luka, Austin and LeBron don’t have to and can focus on offense.”

Hachimura has started in the majority of his games with the Lakers since joining them in January 2023. But he does tend to have trouble guarding opponents on the perimeter, even though he’s a very capable and even an underrated scorer.

An argument could be made that he would be more useful to L.A. coming off the bench, especially to spell James, who will turn 41 years of age in December and needs to have his workload limited more and more during the regular season.

Smart has been one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders for about a decade. He can effectively guard players at three or even four different positions, and he’s also a capable secondary ball handler and facilitator. Having a player like that in the starting lineup would greatly help a team that was 17th in defensive rating last season.

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The concern with starting him is that he’s a career 32.4% 3-point shooter. That would be something Redick would have to get around should he decide to move the 31-year-old into his starting five.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: NBA scout says Lakers should put Marcus Smart in starting lineup