Marcus Smart Reveals Incredible Reason He Chose Lakers in Free Agency

The Los Angeles Lakers knew that they needed some help defending the perimeter, especially once they lost Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency to the Houston Rockets.

Adding Marcus Smart on a two-year deal is certainly a gamble. Smart has been incredibly injured over the last couple of seasons, playing in just 34 games over those two years.

Despite that, Smart had several teams that were interested in signing him. After he signed with the Lakers, he explained why he decided to sign in Los Angeles instead of one of the other teams.

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One of the big selling points for Smart was playing with Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

“Two of the best to do it in this game, two greats with the greatest basketball IQs that I’ve ever seen in this era,” Smart said. “And when you get a guy like Luka. Calling, referencing, checking on you, trying to see where you at to see if you want to come and join something special that he’s trying to cook up over here. And for him to say that he can really use my help, that meant a lot.”

Other than playing with those two players, Smart relished a chance to play for a team that has a chance to win the championship.

“The main goal, the reason you go out and you compete the way you compete is to try to win championships and what better place to be able to do that than here, where the show starts and where the show ends. So, that was definitely a big part of it, being able to get back on that stage, being able to get to a team that definitely could use me and I know I can make an impact and I can help as well and that was a perfect fit here.”

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Smart is going to be the best perimeter defender that the Lakers have off the bench. He likely won't be closing games because of his deficiencies on offense, but he will keep other guards from getting into the paint.

After losing to the Timberwolves in the first round of of the playoffs, Los Angeles knew that they needed to get better on the defensive end of the court. That's why they targeted Smart.

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