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Apr 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) dribbles the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Luka Doncic's Influence Made Lakers a Bigger Threat in NBA Free Agency

Originally posted on Fastbreak on SI | By Justin Grasso | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 9:04 PM ET

Luka Doncic has only played half a season with the Los Angeles Lakers, but he quickly became a face of the franchise when he arrived.

Since landing in LA from the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic has inked a new max extension during his first offseason with the Lakers. He also had some pull with certain roster moves. The Lakers don’t typically have to do too much convincing when they are working on acquiring a player, but Marcus Smart made it clear that Luka had the juice this offseason.

Discussing his decision to join the Lakers in the offseason, Morris recalled feeling like he was being pranked when he heard that Doncic was extremely supportive of the Lakers’ pursuit of Morris.

“When my agent told me Luka called him and was very interested, I didn’t believe him at first,” Smart told reporters. “I’m not gonna lie. I’m like, ‘You’re joking. I’m a jokester, so you probably get me back for something.’ And he’s like, ‘No, I’m serious. We really need to sit down and we need to talk. This is going to happen. This is real.’”

Smart has been in winning situations with high-profile stars before. When he entered the NBA in 2014 as the sixth-overall pick, Smart landed on the Boston Celtics. Since 2015, he’s been playing winning basketball, being a part of playoff runs from his rookie season up until 2023.

Still, the Lakers move has him admittedly “ecstatic.” And the way it all went down just fuels the excitement heading into the new hoops year.

“Having Luka have that ability to say ‘I want this guy here,’ being able to play against him for as long as I did, I’m finally glad to be on his side,” Smart added.

Being in different conferences for most of their careers, Smart and Doncic faced each other just 11 times since 2018. As a defensive specialist, Smart has had to deal with Doncic, who was averaging 30.1 points per game against the Celtics in eight matchups, and then three with the Memphis Grizzlies.

For potentially the next two seasons, Luka and Smart will be teammates out West for the first time.

Since parting ways with the Celtics via trade in 2023, Smart has played for two different teams. He spent the entire 2023-2024 season with the Grizzlies. In 2024-2025, Smart appeared in just 19 games for the Grizzlies. At the 2025 trade deadline, Smart was traded to the Washington Wizards. He finished the year with 15 games played, averaging 9.3 points, 2.5 assists, and 1.9 rebounds.

Being that the Wizards are in a rebuild, they agreed to do a contract buyout with Smart, who brings two-way value to a contending team. Two days later, Smart was teaming up with Luka and LeBron James out in LA.

In Smart, the Lakers get a veteran who has averaged 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He’s a former Defensive Player of the Year and a three-time NBA All-Defensive winner.