The Los Angeles Lakers enter the 2025-26 season with major questions about their defense. They lost two of their best defenders over the last eight months in Anthony Davis and Dorian Finney-Smith, but made a splash by landing Marcus Smart off of the buyout market over the summer. Smart, alongside Jarred Vanderbilt, are arguably L.A.’s two best defenders this season.
Vanderbilt and Smart are two of the peskiest perimeter defenders in the NBA, with the latter winning Defensive Player of the Year just three years ago. And while both have question marks surrounding their offensive production, there is no doubt that the two will play major roles for L.A. and even share the floor together quite a bit this season.
The Lakers forward spoke about why he’s excited to play alongside Smart and what he feels that will do for the franchise this season.
“Just causing havoc,” Vanderbilt said after practice on Tuesday. “Not only physically, but vocally. He’s a vocal guy as well, so us being able to be the anchor of the defense, flying around and setting that tone defensively, I’m excited. I can’t wait to share the court together.”
Of course, the biggest issue with Smart is his availability, as injuries have marred each of his last two seasons. But Vanderbilt isn’t concerned about that.
“He looks great,” Vanderbilt said. “He’s moving great. Like I said, his main power is that he’s vocal. So being able to help the guys communicate defensively, that’s a big part of defense for us. Being physical is one of them, but also being vocal, and he does both at a very high level.”
Vanderbilt and Smart both have dealt with significant injuries over the last two years, which makes hinging L.A.’s defense on them a bit of a risk. However, the upside of those two sharing the floor together on the defensive end is significant.
It remains to be seen exactly how both players will be utilized and how available they’ll be, but there’s certainly excitement for the two defensive stalwarts to play alongside one another.
Marcus Smart looked awesome in return to practice
When the Lakers kicked off training camp last week, one player who was notably absent from the practice court was Smart.
The newly-acquired guard projects to be a big piece of this team, but he was dealing with some Achilles tendinopathy and the organization wanted to be careful to ensure it didn’t become a bigger issue. With that, Smart sat out the team’s first two preseason games over the weekend.
The Lakers returned to the practice floor on Tuesday though and head coach JJ Redick revealed that Smart was able to participate and looked good.
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