Former Boston Celtics heart and soul would make Lakers’..
Former Boston Celtics heart and soul would make Lakers’ biggest weakness worse.
Lakers Wire’s Robert Marvi sees the possibility of Los Angeles trading for Marcus Smart bringing much good to the Lake Show — but he also sees the former Boston Celtics heart and soul making L.A. worse in what is arguably already their weakest area: 3-point shooting.
“Smart would give L.A. an outstanding defender who is also at least somewhat capable offensively,” Marvi prefaced before saying, “He’s averaging a career-high 14.5 points a game this season, and he can also make plays for others and take some of the playmaking and ball-handling load off LeBron James.
“The big negative is Smart’s poor 3-point shooting, which would make the team’s biggest weakness even worse.”
A Smart-Lakers trade was being discussed due to a massive three-team blockbuster proposed by Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus that’d send the Memphis Grizzlies Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Harry Giles III, a 2029 first-rounder, and trade exceptions ($8.3 million, $2.4 million and $1.9 million), land the Lakers Smart, Luke Kennard, John Konchar, Xavier Tillman Sr., Dorian Finney-Smith, and a trade exception ($10.5 million), and the Brooklyn Nets would reunite with D’Angelo Russell while acquiring Jalen Hood-Schifino and trade exceptions ($14 million, $2 million).
Marcus Smart LeBron James’s teammate on Lakers is too painful of a thought for Boston Celtics fans.
On one hand, the Lakers landing Smart would be objectively messy for their spacing and could add an explosive personality; something LeBron teams don’t always navigate well (see: Kyrie Irving on the Cleveland Cavaliers).
Still, seeing Smart in purple and gold is an image so offensive to Celtics fans that it’d nearly make an L.A.-Boston matchup nearly unwatchable.
Smart’s injury likely keeps him in Memphis for the time being. The Grizzlies still don’t know what they have in a Smart-Ja Morant backcourt due to the latter’s season-ending shoulder injury after he missed the 2023-24 season’s first 25 games from suspension.