The Los Angeles Lakers found out on Wednesday that Walker Kessler was at the forefront of their masterplan to retool around Luka Doncic this summer. What swiftly followed was a handful of role players to build out other parts of the roster.
Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili were both widely anticipated to join Los Angeles after Marc Stein and Jake Fischer shared intel on the matter, and they did. The big surprise came when Collin Sexton followed the previous three names by also joining the Lakers.
Sexton signed a two-year, $19 million deal to bring another two-way support piece next to Doncic. That addition came largely at the expense of Marcus Smart, who exited from the team earlier in the day following a two-year, $13 million agreement to join the Houston Rockets.
Realistically, the Lakers could have easily elected to just bring back their own key free agent in Smart. They chose to take a risk on another player who did not already have a proven track record in Los Angeles. If that decisions misfires, they will hear about it at volume.
Lakers gambled on Collin Sexton over a safer reunion with Marcus Smart
The Lakers knew who Smart was. There was more inconsistency to be found with the veteran guard's offense at this stage of his career. The scoring was not always going to be efficient, and the decision-making and erraticism could often cost them.
However, Smart was also a tone setter, a culture guy, and most importantly, their best defender by a large stretch. The recognition was never coming his way due to the team's ups and downs on that end throughout the year, but the Lakers vet delivered borderline All-Defensive caliber play on that side of the court.
With the dust briefly settled on the moves for Los Angeles, the Lakers have a gaping hole at the point of attack. That was Smart's specialty.
Remember how much Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled against the Lakers in their second-round playoff series? Smart was the catalyst of that defensive gameplan.
Sexton is not a bad defender. That being said, the two are several levels removed from each other on the defensive totem pole, with Smart being much higher than his counterpart.
Perhaps the Lakers are prioritizing the two-way impact here. Sexton was a good, albeit imperfect, offensive player in 2025-26. The eight-year vet was coming off a season shooting 40.1 percent from deep, too. Arguing that he offers more than Smart on offense is a fair selling point.
As does the fact that Sexton is several years younger. At 27 years old, there is more alignment with the Doncic timeline by bringing him in.
That would matter more had both of them not inked two-year deals. For strictly two seasons, one could still make an argument Smart has more to offer, even at his advanced age. Swap those two one for one and the older guard would still project as a starter on the Lakers at present, while Sexton will undoubtedly aid the efforts off the bench.
Calling it what it is: this was a risky move. It is the type of roll of the dice that will look brilliant if it pans out, or backfire horrendously if the fit is not all what Rob Pelinka envisioned. Should it be the latter, the pitchforks will be at the gates of the Lakers general manager in no time.
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