{"id":335588,"date":"2025-12-09T23:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335588\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T23:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:37:09","slug":"smart-cleared-to-practice-hopes-to-play-in-lakers-cup-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335588\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart cleared to practice, hopes to play in Lakers’ Cup game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave McMenaminDec 9, 2025, 04:29 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
\nCovered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.<\/p>\n

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> guard Marcus Smart<\/a> was cleared to practice Tuesday after being sidelined with a back issue for the past two weeks, giving L.A. a defensive boost heading into Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Back’s feeling good,” Smart said. “Felt good in practice today. So we did some tests, passed the tests. We’re going to give it a shot tomorrow. See how it feels.”<\/p>\n

Smart, 31, missed the Lakers’ last six games with what the team termed a left lumbar muscle strain.<\/p>\n

The former Defensive Player of the Year is averaging 9.3 points, 2.9 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals for L.A. this season after signing as a free agent in the summer.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Lakers prepared at practice Tuesday for the potential return of the 7-5 center dynamo, Victor Wembanyama<\/a>, to San Antonio’s lineup. Wembanyama, who is averaging 26.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks, has missed the Spurs’ last 11 games with a left calf strain.<\/p>\n

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“I’ll be doing as much as I can, but it’s a game plan where the whole team has to guard him,” Lakers center Deandre Ayton<\/a> said of Wembanyama. “Just shut him down and make everything uncomfortable for him and that’s what we’ve been working on … just really just leaving the focus on him on the defensive end and making our defense create our offense in transition.”<\/p>\n

L.A. beat San Antonio 118-116 on Nov. 5, and Wembanyama was held relatively in check, finishing with 19 points on 5-for-14 shooting, 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers while fouling out.<\/p>\n

Since that game, the Spurs have gotten former All-Star De’Aaron Fox<\/a> back in the lineup and have gone 10-5 over their last 15, with Fox averaging 24.3 points and 6.5 assists.<\/p>\n

“He is obviously a very dynamic guard,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Fox. “You got to do a good job of containing drives. And it’s not just him. Their guards. [Stephon] Castle … obviously when [Devin] Vassell gets going off of dribble handoffs and putting not only pressure on the rim, but just his jump shooting, they’re good movers. … They have good movers on their team and so it’s going to be a challenge. And Fox is, he is one of the best guards in the league.”<\/p>\n

After going 4-0 in the group stage of the NBA Cup, Wednesday’s game is do-or-die. Win, and your team advances to Las Vegas for the semifinals Saturday and a chance at the $530,000 cash prize per player in the championship game. Lose, and your team is out and each player takes home $53,000.<\/p>\n

“I’m just happy for the fans,” Ayton said of the challenge the Cup presents. “Fans get to see a different part of the NBA, like it’s a March Madness type of vibe, and they come to see us play and we put on a show.”<\/p>\n

And as for L.A.’s chances of capturing its second NBA Cup title in the three years of its existence? Said Ayton: “Seeing where we are in the season, why not us?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave McMenaminDec 9, 2025, 04:29 PM ET CloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-335588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}