Los Angeles Lakers guard Marcus Smart has a $5.4 million player option for next season that he might be wise to decline. Smart stands to make more on the open market after a successful individual season with the Lakers, which marked something of a career resurgence for the former Boston Celtics defensive menace.
The Athletic's Sam Vecenie asserted on his Game Theory podcast this week that Smart should opt out. "If I'm Marcus Smart, I'm probably declining that player option, because I think he will get more on the open market somewhere," Vecenie said.
Few would have predicted Marcus Smart's opt-out a year ago
Smart is north of 30 years old and has a lot of wear and tear on his body from his reckless style of play. Prior to this past season, Smart appeared in just 54 games combined between 2023 and 2025 for the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards, on account of a slew of injuries.
When the Lakers signed Smart to a two-year, $11 million deal last July, it was with the hope that Marcus could get his body right and return to being at least a portion of the player who won a Defensive Player of the Year trophy in 2022 with the Celtics.
The Lakers won that bet (a strong bullet-point on Rob Pelinka's recent résumé), as Smart appeared in 62 games this season and came up huge in the first round of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets. Across the first three games of that series (all wins for LA), Smart tallied a combined 61 points, 25 assists, 11 steals, and five blocks. He was absolutely all over the place for a depleted Lakers squad, and he played a central role in the Lakers' miraculous, come-from-behind win in Game 3.
Between his regular-season durability and his playoff heroics, Smart rehabilitated his market value this season. Onlooking suitors know that Smart has 118 playoff games under his belt, a valuable asset for any contender and/or an up-and-coming team looking to add an experienced voice to a young roster. Of course, this all puts the Lakers in a difficult position.
Lakers might not be able to afford Marcus Smart this summer
While the Lakers are thrilled by Smart's return to form, that same resurgence might mean they have to part ways with Marcus this offseason. The Lakers are facing a cap space problem caused by potential new deals for Austin Reaves and (possibly) LeBron James, making the returns of guys like Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Luke Kennard all the more difficult.
Then again, perhaps the Lakers should go ahead and make retaining Smart a priority, all while punting on Hachimura, who is bound to be more expensive. LA wants to maintain some sort of continuity heading into next year, and Smart would be an excellent place to start.
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