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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 29: Marcus Smart #36 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts to his foul against the Houston Rockets in Game Five of the First Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
After just one season with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, Marcus Smart<\/a> left in free agency and signed with the Houston Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a> first reported Smart\u2019s decision to leave the Lakers and join the Rockets on a two-year contract.<\/p>\n \u201cFree agent guard Marcus Smart has agreed on a two-year, $13 million deal with the Houston Rockets, plus a player option for the second season, sources tell ESPN. The former Defensive Player of the Year reunites with Ime Udoka for significant opportunity in the Rockets backcourt,\u201d Charania tweeted.<\/p>\n Free agent guard Marcus Smart has agreed on a two-year, $13 million deal with the Houston Rockets, plus a player option for the second season, sources tell ESPN. The former Defensive Player of the Year reunites with Ime Udoka for significant opportunity in the Rockets backcourt. <\/p>\n Smart signed a two-year deal with the Lakers last summer, with a player option for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n He opted out of his contract to become a free agent, signing a similar deal with the Rockets.<\/p>\n In his lone season in Los Angeles, the former Defensive Player of the Year averaged<\/a> 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He was vital in the Lakers\u2019 first-round upset of the Rockets in the playoffs.<\/p>\n Why Did Marcus Smart Leave The Lakers?<\/p>\n \n Speaking on the\u00a0Third Apron<\/a> podcast, Los Angeles Lakers insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic shared his insights on Marcus Smart\u2019s departure from the franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have great clarity on this, and there are differing accounts of how it all went down, but my understanding is that to some degree, Smart was ready to move forward in a different situation,\u201d Buha said via BasketNews<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was a surprising move from Smart and the Lakers to part ways since the player had a really good season.<\/p>\n The Lakers still needed defense, but Smart decided to leave and reunite with his former Boston Celtics<\/a> head coach Ime Udoka in Houston.<\/p>\n Luka Doncic<\/a> also recruited Smart last summer, convincing him to join the Lakers in free agency.<\/p>\n Lakers Add 10 New Players This Offseason<\/p>\n \n In addition to Marcus Smart, the Los Angeles Lakers also moved on from LeBron James<\/a>, Rui Hachimura<\/a>, Luke Kennard<\/a> and Jaxson Hayes<\/a>, who all signed with new teams this summer.<\/p>\n Deandre Ayton<\/a> was also traded to the Washington Wizards<\/a> as part of the Jaden Hardy<\/a> deal.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the Lakers added 10 new players via the draft, trades and free agency.<\/p>\n Cameron Carr | Guard | NBA<\/a> Draft The Lakers also signed Austin Reaves<\/a> to a new four-year contract, locking him up as Luka Doncic\u2019s backcourt partner for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJuan Paolo David<\/a> Juan Paolo David is a sports journalist covering basketball for Heavy. He has a decade of experience writing about the NBA and WWE. He’s currently based in the Philippines. More about Juan Paolo David<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 29: Marcus Smart #36 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts to his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-895483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895483","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=895483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Marcus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1920x1080-2026-09-14T213842.666.png\")
<\/a>GettyMarcus Smart #36 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts during overtime of the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on April 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas.\n<\/p>\n![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1920x1080-2026-08-26T204355.465.png\")
<\/a>GettyAustin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates with Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on March 18, 2026 in Houston, Texas.\n<\/p>\n
\nWalker Kessler | Center | Sign-And-Trade
\nSandro Mamukelashvili | Forward-Center | Free Agency
\nQuentin Grimes | Guard-Forward | Free Agency
\nCollin Sexton | Guard | Free Agency
\nKevon Looney | Center | Free Agency
\nJaden Hardy | Guard | Trade
\nMatisse Thybulle | Forward | Free Agency
\nZiaire Williams | Forward | Free Agency
\nAK Okereke | Forward | Free Agency (Two-way Contract)<\/p>\n