{"id":7190,"date":"2025-07-20T00:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T00:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7190\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T00:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T00:45:07","slug":"marcus-smart-plans-to-join-lakers-after-wizards-buy-out-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7190\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smart plans to join Lakers after Wizards buy out contract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lakers<\/a> have found their point-of-attack, defensive-mind wing defender in guard Marcus Smart<\/a>, who has agreed to a buyout with the Washington Wizards and plans to sign a two-year, $11-million deal with Los Angeles, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed to The Times on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Smart, the 2022 defensive player of the year when he played for the Boston Celtics, will sign his deal contract after when he clears waivers. He has a player option after the 2025-26 season, meaning he can become a free agent next summer.<\/p>\n

The Lakers were in need of a defensive wing after defensive ace Dorian Finney-Smith signed with the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

Smart played in only 34 games last season, splitting time between Memphis and Washington. He dealt with a finger injury on his shooting hand last season. He averaged 9.0 points, 3.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 39.3% from the field.<\/p>\n

Smart, 31, played in only 20 games during the 2023-24 season with the Grizzlies, his time limited by a finger injury and left foot sprain. During his time on the court, Smart averaged 14.4 points per game and shot 43% from the field, 31.3% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

Smart was at his best during his nine seasons with the Boston Celtics, making the playoffs each year. He missed the playoffs the last two seasons in Memphis and Washington.<\/p>\n

He started a career-high 71 games during the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 32.3 minutes per game, 12.1 points and shot 41.8% from the field, 33.1% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

That was the same season Smart was the defensive player of the year. He\u2019s also a three-time member of the NBA\u2019s All-Defensive first team.<\/p>\n

With a starting backcourt of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, two players not known for their defense, the Lakers really needed a defensive-minded player like Smart.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3 Smart has the size, strength (220 pounds) and athleticism to defend three positions \u2014 point guards, shooting guards and small forwards.<\/p>\n

His soon-to-be addition, along with that of center Deandre Ayton and forward Jake LaRavia, gives the Lakers depth and talent to hopefully contend in the uber-tough Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Smart was the sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Celtics.<\/p>\n

He has been a starter and reserve over his career, having started 387 out of 635 games in an 11-year career.<\/p>\n

During that time, Smart averaged 10.6 points, 4.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds, a sign of his all-around talents. He shot 38.8% from the field, 32.4% from three-point range and 77.6% from the free-throw line in his career.<\/p>\n

But Smart is at his best on defense. His career defensive rating is 107.9.<\/p>\n

He has the ability to move his feet and stay in front of his man. He\u2019s a very good one-on-one defender, and that\u2019s exactly what the Lakers need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers have found their point-of-attack, defensive-mind wing defender in guard Marcus Smart, who has agreed to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,1664,3326,3895,9033,9031,1862,2873,9034,590,321,161,9030,85,9032,6618,7211,1547],"class_list":{"0":"post-7190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-career","12":"tag-contract","13":"tag-defensive-player","14":"tag-field","15":"tag-game","16":"tag-lakers","17":"tag-marcus-smart","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-point","20":"tag-season","21":"tag-smart","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-three-point-range","24":"tag-time","25":"tag-washington-wizards","26":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7190","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=7190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}