The Los Angeles Lakers head into the 2026-27 season with essentially a brand new roster as key pieces from last season like LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes and Luke Kennard are all gone.
Smart, in particular, is a big loss as he was a great fit with the Lakers as a perimeter defender with big-game experience who also brings some leadership to the locker room. After Smart essentially revived his career with the purple and gold, many assumed he would be back with the team in free agency despite declining his player option for 2026-27 give how perfect the fit was.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things worked out as Smart wound up signing a two-year, $12.4 million deal with the Houston Rockets. In his first comments since doing so, Smart revealed that the Lakers’ offer to him was lower than he was expecting, via Varun Shankar of the Houston Chronicle:
Smart told The Chronicle that he chose Houston — where he has cousins, extended family and family friends — despite getting a bigger offer from the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he played the 2025-26 season. At the same time, Smart said the Lakers offer, which he declined to specify, was “disrespectful.”
“First off, I played so well that the offer that was ultimately given didn’t match the way that I played,” he said, “especially when you see guys who played way worse than I did, the offers they’re getting. And then it wasn’t any security that we wanted that they were willing to do.”
As Smart mentioned, he is from Texas and has a lot of family there, so that played a role in him signing with the Rockets. He further expanded on why that was the right choice for him despite their offer being lower than the Lakers’:
“They gave me an opportunity to be able to go out and try to get what I’ve earned,” Smart said, “and what I’ve been working my tail off to provide for my family is a decent-sized paycheck with obviously years on it, right? Or a big paycheck with less years, but to be able to have that option.”
It’s unclear exactly what the Lakers offered Smart in free agency, but it apparently was disrespectful enough that he chose to sign with the Rockets for less money.
L.A. was extremely active in free agency this summer, bringing in players like Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle to make up for all of the firepower they lost.
How Lakers will replace Marcus Smart’s perimeter defense
With the Lakers focused on bringing in younger players and letting Smart walk this summer, they will have to find a way to replace the perimeter defense that he provided.
The additions of Grimes, Thybulle and Williams should help with that, although they lack Smart’s leadership and experience so he is unquestionably a big loss for the Lakers.
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