With the roster fully healthy, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has been able to mix and match player combinations and Marcus Smart keeps coming up in his best two-way lineups.
Smart signed a two-year deal with the Lakers after being bought out by the Washington Wizards and he’s more than made good on his contract as he’s been an instrumental part in a few Lakers victories. For example, Smart came up big in the team’s recent win against the New Orleans Pelicans and he didn’t always necessarily do it scoring.
While Smart did hit a couple of big shots in the fourth quarter, he made his impact on the defensive end as he disrupted the Pelicans’ offense several times. Smart’s 10 points, seven assists and three rebounds are impressive, but what really stands out are the four steals and three blocks in the box score.
After the win against New Orleans, Redick gave praise to both Smart and Jaxson Hayes for their impact.
“Yeah, a big emphasis for us pregame and on the film was just our physicality. You have to match Zion [Williamson]’s physicality. You have to match Saddiq Bey’s physicality. Like, they have big players and I thought Smart was incredible tonight,” Redick said.
“Him and Jaxson [Hayes] in the second half when we got him back in the game defensively as well. Really just, they helped us win the game. They changed the game. Frankly, that’s not a win we’ve had since probably November, where we’re down late. A lot of those early wins when we started 15-4, we had a number of double-digit deficits in the second half and just stuck with it and kept playing. It was a good win for our group to be able to do that again.”
Redick further praised Smart for his ability to fill the role that is needed of him on this Lakers roster.
“When you guys like to talk about roles, guys’ roles, and dividing players amongst roles. A star player, their role is to be the star. Whatever way they star, is to be a star. Smart, I think has starred in his role for what we need from him consistently throughout the year,” Redick said.
“He’s, I think, played great basketball throughout the last 5-6 weeks and that starts on the defensive end. He’s been tremendous for us defensively. And look, there were a couple points there where you kind of felt the energy of the group starting to wane, and he makes a big defensive play, gets a steal to go out in transition, we score and they call timeout. He gave us life tonight.”
Smart’s scoring will fluctuate as he’s largely dependent on the stars to generate his looks, but defensively he’s the team’s best overall option as he can switch across multiple positions and has a knack for anticipating where opposing players want to go with the basketball. He’s also unafraid to put his body on the line as he’s always trying to draw charges or dive for loose balls.
Redick has emphasized the need for Los Angeles to play with more physicality on both ends of the floor and Smart has clearly taken that message to heart. His teammates seem to appreciate his efforts too as they can always be seen cheering every time the veteran makes a play.
With the 2025-26 season in quickly winding down, Redick can’t afford to have his group suffer any more letdowns given how tight the standings are. Players like Smart have earned Redick’s trust and it’ll be interesting to see how he and the rest of the roster respond down the stretch.
Marcus Smart details experiences of playing for Lakers and Celtics
Marcus Smart has gotten the rare opportunity to play for both the Lakers and Celtics, the two most historic franchises in the NBA. This is Smart’s first year playing for Los Angeles, but he detailed his experience playing for both teams and called it a unique one.
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