{"id":81150,"date":"2025-07-20T10:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T10:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=81150"},"modified":"2025-07-20T10:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T10:11:13","slug":"report-reveals-why-marcus-smart-signed-with-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=81150","title":{"rendered":"Report reveals why Marcus Smart signed with Lakers&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mai-performance-images\/2022\/05\/marcus-smart-400xauto.webp\" alt=\"Marcus Smart stares ahead\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Marcus Smart had some big reasons for signing with the Los Angeles Lakers once he became a free agent.<\/p>\n<p>Smart agreed to join the Lakers on Saturday after finalizing a buyout agreement with the Washington Wizards. According to\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania, Smart also received serious interest from the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>However, Lakers star Luka Doncic personally reached out to Smart to recruit him to the team<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Smart clearly valued the path to playing time the Lakers offered him. Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reported that the New York Knicks had checked in on Smart, but he preferred the Lakers because of greater opportunity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=spacemnkymafia&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1946683256604111237&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Flarrybrownsports.com%2Fbasketball%2Freport-reveals-why-marcus-smart-signed-with-lakers%2F708299&amp;sessionId=a690e989970ea9aa9d04fb908ca783c9131f2222&amp;siteScreenName=larrybrownsport&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1946683256604111237\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Smart remains one of the premier defensive guards in the league, though injuries have limited him to 54 games over the past two seasons. The Lakers are hoping to have him fully healthy, where he could be a significant defensive presence in their backcourt.<\/p>\n<p>One fanbase in particular\u00a0is really suffering from Smart\u2019s decision\u00a0to join the Lakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marcus Smart had some big reasons for signing with the Los Angeles Lakers once he became a free agent. Smart agreed to join the Lakers on Saturday&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Report reveals why Marcus Smart signed with Lakers... - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=81150\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report reveals why Marcus Smart signed with Lakers... - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marcus Smart had some big reasons for signing with the Los Angeles Lakers once he became a free agent. 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