After helping beat the Rockets in the playoffs, Marcus Smart will be reuniting with his former Boston coach Ime Udoka in Houston.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
The Houston Rockets bolstered their backcourt depth Wednesday by agreeing with Marcus Smart to a two year, $13 million contract, according to a person with knowledge of the deal, granted anonymity to speak on a transaction that had not been officially announced. The second year of the contract is a player option.
The signing reunites Smart with Rockets coach Ime Udoka. Both were on the 2021-22 Boston Celtics, with Udoka coaching Smart en route to the guard’s lone Defensive Player of the Year award as the team reached the NBA Finals.
It seems very likely that the Rockets will now exceed the NBA’s first apron after signing Smart, especially as they try to retain restricted free agent Tari Eason. If Houston does not trade away salary, signing Smart will exhaust the team’s mid-level exception and means the only external free agents it can add are on minimum contracts or a sign and trade.
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Those factors make this contract a sizable investment in the 32-year-old Smart, who’s from the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound.
Smart averaged 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, three assists and 1.4 steals per game last season for the Los Angeles Lakers. He gives Houston another gritty defensive presence on the perimeter and another ballhandler with point guard experience. He embodies the toughness Udoka covets and has largely made his teams better in recent years.
The Lakers were nearly nine points per 100 possessions better with Smart on the court last season, according to the analytics site Cleaning the Glass. That is partially a function of poor opponent 3-point percentage, which can be somewhat random, but also because with Smart on the floor, Los Angeles forced more turnovers and limited opponents shot attempts at the rim.
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Smart ranked 86th among all players in the advanced all-in-one metric DARKO plus-minus last season and was in the 88th percentile of all players in estimated plus-minus.
But the signing does come with questions.
Houston added shooting to its roster Tuesday by reaching a one-year deal with Bogdan Bogdanovic but on a Rockets team where two key players — Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün — have yet to develop as shooters, adding floor-spacing is always pivotal.
Smart does not offer that. He shot just 33.1% from deep last season, a slight uptick from his career numbers. Along with his defense, he does add additional skill as a ballhandler and passer, something Houston lacked last season after starting point guard Fred VanVleet missed the entire season due to a torn ACL.
VanVleet, who opted into his $25 million player option for next season, should be back for the 2026-27 campaign but additional depth could help Houston slow-play the veteran guard’s return from a serious injury.
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But Smart’s addition could limit playing time for one of the team’s best shooters, Reed Sheppard. The third pick in the 2024 draft saw a huge jump in minutes in his second season but still found himself on the Rockets’ bench behind other guards due to defensive inconsistency.
Stone noted at the end of the season that he didn’t envision VanVleet’s return limiting either of Houston’s young point guards, Sheppard and Thompson, and that he envisioned the former as the team’s future starter at the position. VanVleet and Sheppard could play together, he said. Thompson’s positional versatility means he can play alongside both.
That is also possible with Smart but still, after drafting Bruce Thornton with the 31st pick, the Rockets have a lot of guards on the roster ahead of a crucial season for them and Sheppard — the guard becomes extension eligible at the end of the campaign.
ESPN first reported Smart’s signing.
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