While the Lakers losing Dorian Finney-Smith to the Rockets<\/a> was not an ideal start, they bounced back well enough.<\/p>\n The Lakers quickly signed Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia<\/a>, adding some depth to their much-needed wing and center spots.<\/p>\n But it was the Lakers\u2019 signing of Marcus Smart<\/a> that made a lot of noise. And now, there are discussions about whether Smart should replace a long-time Lakers starter.<\/p>\n Patrick Beverley spoke on his podcast as he looked ahead to the 2025-26 NBA season. When discussing the Los Angeles Lakers, he gave his thoughts.<\/p>\n While Beverley expects Rui Hachimura<\/a> to start over Marcus Smart<\/a>, he believes Smart brings them a different defensive dynamic, which could help them massively.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Luka Doncic<\/a>, LeBron James<\/a>, Deandre Ayton<\/a>, Austin Reaves<\/a>, and Marcus Smart. I don\u2019t hate that, right? I think you put that out there because you got to put some defense out there.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if you go that, I think you have a chance. I think this is the way it gonna go. Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton, LeBron James, you go Rui.<\/p>\n \u201cI like that lineup too, but I feel like in order to be like, super competitive, like super duper competitive, like, you have to have a mix.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to have a guard out there that\u2019s willing to guard, guards, like, slide them. And that\u2019s why I think Marcus Smart gives you that edge. I think he\u2019s gonna use Vando as his energy pill off the bench.\u201d<\/p>\n LA Lakers hoping to make championship push next season<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear from the moves they\u2019ve made this summer that the LA Lakers are looking to compete for an NBA championship next season.<\/p>\n Surrounding Luka Doncic and LeBron James with solid shooters and defenders is perhaps the best way to maximize this roster\u2019s championship potential.<\/p>\n While these signs were perhaps not on the top of Lakers fans\u2019 wishlists, these players are the best Rob Pelinka seemingly could do.<\/p>\n Should the Lakers fail to make a crack in what is a very tough Western Conference, expect Pelinka\u2019s job to be under some threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Beverley believes one of Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura brings a much-needed dynamic to the LA Lakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7232,9034,590,66055,53897,85,7897],"class_list":["post-100571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba","tag-patrick-beverley","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-sports","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Marcus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2184957476-792x627.jpg\")
Photo by Harry How\/Getty ImagesPatrick Beverley says LA Lakers should start Marcus Smart over Rui Hachimura<\/p>\n