When The Ringer's Bill Simmons called the Los Angeles Lakers the fifth-scariest playoff team in the NBA on Sunday, Simmons mentioned three players that are paramount to the Lakers' success, but Austin Reaves wasn't one of them.
It was defensive menace and veteran leader Marcus Smart -- along with LeBron James and Luka Doncic -- whom Simmons highlighted as vital to the Lakers' fear factor.
Bill Simmons emphasized the importance of Marcus Smart to the Lakers
"If I know Smart and LeBron are healthy, and I have to play Luka," Simmons said during The Bill Simmons Podcast, "(and) when it’s a two-point game with four minutes left, you just feel like they’re gonna win, and they could have two guys on the court that are just complete zeros offensively, and it doesn’t seem to matter for them, and I would not want to see them in a playoff series."
Speaking of being a zero offensively, Smart goes through plenty of phases in which he's exactly that. But as Simmons alluded to, it doesn't really matter, especially when Marcus is playing alongside all-time-great offensive engines like Luka and LeBron.
Simmons' mention of Smart here was partially due to an obvious Celtics bias, but at the same time, it spoke to the immense value that Smart provides the Lakers, a value that become more and more championed by the media as the 2025-26 season has worn on, and rightfully so.
Marcus Smart does so many different things to help the Lakers win
It's difficult to put a finger on Smart's importance because it's often intangible and always changing. Sometimes, it's his 3-point shot that -- when on target -- provides crucial floor spacing for guys like Luka, LeBron, and yes, Reaves.
Other times, we can see Smart's overall mentality and attitude postively affecting the Lakers. Marcus has the heart of a champion, and his gritty approach that contrasts so heavily with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is what makes him such an irreplaceable entity for these Lakers. The NBA postseason doesn't reward sparking superstars as much as it does whichever players -- and teams -- are willing to get their hands the dirtiest and play the hardest.
Perhaps this is what went into Simmons' thinking that Smart absolutely must be healthy for the Lakers to do any serious damage in the playoffs. Smart's intangibles have made him a perfect fit at the start of the Luka Era in LA, and Rob Pelinka probably hasn't received enough credit for acquiring Marcus last July.
So much has been written about the Lakers' "dysfunctional" star trio of Luka, LeBron, and Reaves, mostly in the sense that two of them (namely, Luka and Reaves) work better together than all three at once. But when you introduce Smart into the Lakers equation, these divisive trios and duos dissipate, and a greater team effort comes into view. It's the kind of grand effort that the Lakers will need if they're going to make a run at this thing in April and May.