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Lakers Nation > Blog > Lakers News > Lakers News: Marcus Smart Relieved To Not Have To Defend Luka Doncic Anymore
Lakers News

Lakers News: Marcus Smart Relieved To Not Have To Defend Luka Doncic Anymore

Corey Hansford
Published: 07/26/2025
3 Min Read
Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, Lakers
Jan 9, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to move to the basket past Memphis Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart (36) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
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From the moment he was drafted in 2012, Marcus Smart had a defined role as a perimeter defender who lived to make life hell on the opposition’s best player. And now that he has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, he is now teammates with two of the best players he has had to defend in his career in Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

Due to spending the first nine years of his career with the Boston Celtics, Smart has had a ton of battles with James throughout his career, but Doncic on the other hand, has been a more recent player he has had to try and figure out. And Smart has been extremely impressed with his new teammate.

In an interview on the Sedano & Kap Show on ESPN LA, Smart spoke about how difficult it was to defend Doncic and how he is relived to not have to do so anymore now that they are teammates on the Lakers:

“Awe man, he was a magician literally. The Luka Magic was real. We would game plan for him, you would get yourself ready, you would go look at the film and he would come up with something new or do something that you already knew was coming and you still couldn’t stop it. So to be on the other end of that is definitely a relief and I know that for me, all I gotta do is be able to do my part to help Luka and help this team.”

Doncic doesn’t have the elite athleticism that many other top NBA players possess, but his overall skill level more than makes up for it, as Smart can attest to. No matter what he did and how much he studied to try and figure something out to slow Doncic down, he had an answer.

But those battles between the two created a level of respect and now they are on the same side with the same goal of bringing a championship to the Lakers.

Marcus Smart says Luka Doncic recruiting him to the Lakers meant a lot

Obviously those battles between Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart left some sort of impression as it is well known that the Lakers superstar recruited Smart to join the Lakers upon being bought out by the Washington Wizards. And Smart admitted that the fact that it was Doncic himself calling him personally and trying to get him to join the Lakers really meant a lot.

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TAGGED:Los Angeles LakersLuka DoncicMarcus Smart
ByCorey Hansford
Corey Hansford is the Senior Editor for Lakers Nation, as well as a contributor for Dodger Blue, Rams News Wire, and Raiders News Wire. He is a passionate follower of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chelsea FC, and the UFC. He can usually be seen arguing the merits of Kobe Bryant or cursing the decisions of Jerry Jones. He is also a former producer and associate producer for Sirius XM Sports Radio on both the Fantasy Sports Channel and College Sports Nation. Proud graduate of Long Beach Poly High School and The Real HU, Howard University, with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Follow him on all social media outlets at @TheeCoreyH.
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