Marcus Smart and LeBron James spent the first four years of the former’s career as adversaries. Smart’s Boston Celtics and James’ Cleveland Cavaliers faced off in the playoffs three times in four seasons — James winning all three — before he made the move West to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
It took all the way until the 2025-26 season for their paths to cross again, this time as teammates. Smart joined the Lakers in the summer of 2025 after a buyout from the Washington Wizards. And while the two were fantastic rivals, they might have been even better teammates. They had instant chemistry, and rode that all the way to a first round win together. So while James weighs his NBA and Lakers future, Smart hopes to play with him again.
“You never know, LeBron has been doing this for 23 years, I’ve been doing this for 12,” Smart said during his exit interview. “We’ve seen some things in this league. Some things we probably shouldn’t have seen, some things you probably wouldn’t have thought you’d seen. So I really don’t know. I hope so.
“The battles against him were fun. Being his teammate was fun. We all know the IQ that he brings to this game. So like Austin said, the confidence, he gave everybody in that room confidence. Especially when AR and Luka went down, we needed some guys to step up and the confidence just raised. That speaks volumes about who he is. Definitely hope, but we’ll see.”
It’s a shame that it took this long for James and Smart to team up given just how perfectly their games complement one another. And that’s with both players past their prime. Years ago, this could have been an elite championship pairing between a star and a role player.
The Lakers seem likely to try and retain both players. James is entering unrestricted free agency with a fascinating summer ahead, and Smart may join him with a player option that he could very easily decline.
LeBron James doesn’t view 2025-26 season as disappointment
Winning the championship is the ultimate goal of the NBA season. However, the general discourse has gone too far with the importance of rings, chalking up every non-championship season as a failure. That is certainly not the case for James and the Lakers.
L.A. was never expected to win it all this season, and in fact overachieved given the timing and severity of some key injuries. James, who led the Lakers to a series win at age 41, calls his personal season a success, even though it ended in a second round exit.
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