Marcus Smart Explains How He Developed Leadership Ability

Marcus Smart was one of the best under-the-radar signings of the offseason as the veteran guard can help a team when healthy.

The Los Angeles Lakers are certainly hoping Smart is ready to go for the start of the 2025-26 season and the veteran seems on track to do so.

While Smart is known for the defensive end, he’s also a valuable voice on and off the floor for L.A. Smart explained that he learned to use his voice growing up with older brothers.

“Being the youngest of four boys. That’s kinda it. You gotta kinda speak up for yourself,” he said. “If you don’t, then you kinda get left in the dust. And for me, I wasn’t going to let that happen. But definitely. My family, my brothers, being that youngest you definitely have to find your voice early and that helps a lot.”

As for how he’s approached being a leader on the Lakers, he acknowledged he’s acclimating before jumping in head first.

“When you come to a new team, you’re definitely going to sit back and feel it out because you don’t want to be that guy that comes in and gets on everybody”s nerves because he comes in and he doesn’t know what’s going on he’s just trying to talk too much,” Smart said.

“First couple of days I sat back, evaluated the team. But guys are coming up to me like, ‘Hey, we need you to talk. What do you see?’ That helps a lot when you come to a new team to have the guys come up and give you that confidence to be able to go out there and use your voice. Definitely take it slow, but definitely have to jump in there and let your voice be heard.”

As someone who has been in the league for over a decade and has been deep into the playoffs on multiple occasions, Smart has earned the reputation and credibility he has among players. LeBron James and Luka Doncic will be the main leaders, but having an extra voice in Smart should pay off in the long run.

JJ Redick says Marcus Smart looked awesome in return to Lakers practice

Marcus Smart has been dealing with Achilles tendinopathy and an illness, but he still made his return to Lakers practice this past week. Head coach JJ Redick came away impressed with Smart and said he looked awesome in practice.