Lakers beef up defense with key veteran addition

The Lakers made a badly-needed addition to their defense by reaching agreement with 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, after he agreed to a buyout of the remaining $21.5M of his contract with the Washington Wizards. Smart will slide in as the third guard behind Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, providing defense, ball handling and toughness to a Lakers team that was lacking in all three last season.

The Lakers had the league's third-best defensive rating in 2019-20, when they won the title, and were the top-rated defense in 2020-21. Since then, the team's defense has been mediocre — not terrible, but also not a strength — especially after trading their defensive anchor, Anthony Davis, for Doncic.

Smart made the playoffs in all nine of his seasons with the Boston Celtics, making the All-Defensive first team three times. The Celtics traded him in 2023 after a roster shakeup that brought in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. The Celtics went on to win the championship, while Smart endured two injury-plagued seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.

Now he's got a chance to compete again alongside Doncic and LeBron James. The Lakers starting guards are both great offensive players, but neither Doncic nor Reaves is a stopper, or even an average defender. While he's only 6-foot-3, Smart is strong enough to hold up against forwards defensively, allowing the Lakers to use three-guard lineups. With Deandre Ayton installed at center, the Lakers have a real chance of being a top-10 defense.

Smart's injury problems are a concern, but less so on a Lakers team that has Gabe Vincent, Shake Milton and even Bronny James to help limit Smart's minutes and let him rest. The addition also makes Vincent and his expiring $11.5M deal a potential trade chip, along with Maxi Kleber's $11M expiring deal and Rui Hachimura's $18.3M — enough to aggregate for a high-paid star.

If they have playoff ambitions, the Lakers needed someone who could guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, James Harden, Anthony Edwards and Steph Curry. It's well worth his $11M two-year deal for the Lakers to bet that Smart can be that missing stopper on the perimeter.