{"id":529571,"date":"2026-03-17T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529571\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:17:11","slug":"ex-celtic-marcus-smart-recalls-2018-incident-that-almost-made-him-lose-his-right-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529571\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Celtic Marcus Smart recalls 2018 incident that almost made him lose his right hand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHe punched a picture frame after a close loss to the Lakers. Now, with the glass still in his hand, he plays for them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tLakers guard Marcus Smart. AP Photo\/Chris Carlson\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018It feels like old times\u2019: As Jayson Tatum\u2019s minutes ramp up, so does chemistry with Jaylen Brown\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJaylen Brown describes \u2018surreal\u2019 experience at his first St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade in South Boston\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in 2018, when Marcus Smart<\/a> was playing for the Celtics<\/a>, he almost paid a big price for a moment of frustration. <\/p>\n

He missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a January road game against the Lakers, and the Celtics lost by one point. <\/p>\n

According to a recent profile by ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenanmin,<\/a> Smart was thinking about that shot when he lost his temper and punched a picture frame in his hotel room, leaving a 5-inch piece of glass stuck in his palm. <\/p>\n

\u201cI got rushed to the ER and lost a lot of blood,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI passed out. \u2026 That\u2019s how much I lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wound required 20 stitches to fix, and there\u2019s still a piece of glass in the hand to this day. But, Smart was lucky that it wasn\u2019t worse, a doctor told him. The damage could have been permanent. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor looked at me in my eye and told me, \u2018I don\u2019t know how you still have use of your right hand,’\u201d Smart said. \u201c\u2018You should honestly be thanking God every day.’\u201d <\/p>\n

According to ESPN, the glass was millimeters away from rendering the hand useless, something that would have been problematic for a normal person, let alone one of the best defensive players in the NBA. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey said it laid perfectly in between every tendon in my hand without damaging anything,\u201d Smart said. \u201cAnd they had to leave the extra piece in, because they said it will cause more damage if we go get it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injury cost him 11 games, but he was back in time for the playoffs. The Celtics made a deep run, finishing one game short of a trip to the NBA Finals. They lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to LeBron and the Cavaliers during Jayson Tatum\u2019s rookie year. <\/p>\n

Fast forward eight years later, and Marcus Smart is playing with LeBron for the Lakers. But, it took a winding road to get there. He spent four more years with the Celtics before Boston sent him to Memphis in a shocking summer trade. He spent a season and a half with the Grizzlies battling more injuries before Memphis traded him to Washington at the trade deadline in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had two dislocations with torn ligaments in two of the fingers,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI\u2019ve had glass in my hand. I\u2019ve torn ligaments on my right thumb and had surgery there. I dislocated four out of my five fingers in total \u2026 my whole right hand just has been through a lot. So to be honest, I\u2019m blessed to even have my right hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor six years after the incident with the glass, I still had glass in my hand and I played with it. And there would be times where, because of that, my hand would go numb. A lot of times, a lot of games, I couldn\u2019t control it. I had to play and there were a lot of times when I\u2019m shooting the ball and just, I had no feeling in the arm, the hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his short stint with the Wizards was \u201cgreat,\u201d adding that he needed that time to get healthy. He signed with the Lakers as a free-agent after his contract expired. He has played in more games this season [57] than he did the previous two seasons combined [53].<\/p>\n

\u201cHe competes every night,\u201d the Lakers\u2019 Austin Reaves said. \u201cIt\u2019s not always pretty, but his competitive level\u2019s going to be at an all-time high every single night. And you need guys like that. I think he\u2019s the one that sets the example for us on the court to go out there and play as hard as we possibly can, because you know he\u2019s going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grittiness and defensive effort that made Smart a fan favorite in Boston earned him a chance to write a new chapter with the Lakers, who are third in the Western Conference with the playoffs quickly approaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made an impact on winning,\u201d Redick said. \u201cAnd I think that ultimately is \u2026 that\u2019s how you rewrite the narrative of your career, is if you\u2019re on a winning team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics He punched a picture frame after a close loss to the Lakers. Now, with the glass…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-529571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}