NBA: Marcus Smart Motivated To Help Los Angeles Lakers After Luka Doncic Call Up

Marcus Smart credited Luka Doncic for assisting his move to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Smart signed a two-year deal with the Lakers after reaching a buyout agreement with the Washington Wizards.

In 2022, Smart became the first guard to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award since Gary Payton in 1996.

The former Celtics guard said Doncic’s involvement with his move to the 17-time champions convinced him to join the project.

“When you get a guy like Luka calling, checking on you, trying to see where you're at, to see if you want to come join something special that he's trying to cook up over here,” said Smart. “For him to say that he can really use my help, that meant a lot.

“[I want to] Come in and do what I do and that's [being] a tenacious defender, just bringing the intensity that I bring, my leadership, my basketball IQ, as well. But just being the pest that I've always been.”

JJ Redick’s Lakers team finished third in the Western Conference last season with a record of 50-32 before losing 4-1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs.

The Lakers have also added center Deandre Ayton to their roster, and a “very motivated” Smart believes they can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league.

“I think we stack right up there with the best of them. And I think we can [compete]. Our ceiling is high. I think there's no ceiling.

“I think if we all lock in and come and do what we're supposed to do, we can have a real good shot at it.

“I'm very motivated. The last two years for me was, in my eyes, a disappointment. Injuries kind of stopped me and held me back.

“But, like I told my wife and my family, everything happens for a reason. And it's funny that 12 years ago, I could have been here and now it's full circle and I'm here.”

Whjile Doncic is set to be the star of the show moving forward for the Lakers, there is some uncertainty over the future of LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading points scorer.