The Los Angeles Lakers had every opportunity to have Nick Smith Jr. stick around with the franchise, if they deemed him a valuable fit for the team's future. They did not. His $2.5 million team option was confidently declined, and Rob Pelinka went about his business not looking back at the decision.
For the Lakers general manager, this was yet another example of his inability to find guys on the fringes of the roster who can eventually blossom into regular contributors. Pelinka gave up on the idea of Smith having that upside pretty quickly. At the very least, the team president owned up to that miss.
To Pelinka's credit, Smith's move to Real Madrid would indicate that was the right call. The former Lakers guard signed a one-year deal to join Luka Doncic's old team in Europe. That means 29 other franchises in the NBA also looked at him and said, "Nah, we're good," just like Los Angeles did.
The former first-round pick never quite lived up to that billing during his first few years in the league. After two seasons with the Charlotte Hornets and one campaign with the Lakers, Smith will need to claw his way back to the NBA by proving himself with Real Madrid.
Every other team agreed with the Lakers' assessment of Nick Smith Jr. not being NBA-level
For the time being, all 30 teams in the league silently agree that Smith does not warrant a roster spot in the NBA. The Lakers briefly elevated their former guard to a standard deal at the end of last season after he was on a two-way for the majority of 2025-26. That was more circumstantial than anything else.
With Doncic and Austin Reaves being injured, the Lakers needed the guard depth for the 2026 NBA Playoffs. Smith got his shot. Despite a window of opportunity to secure an on-court role for the postseason, the 22-year-old never capitalized.
It was Bronny James who earned JJ Redick's trust down the stretch of the regular season. That gave him the playoff minutes against the Houston Rockets before Reaves returned from injury. Smith primarily sat on the bench, garbage time excluded.
The overall problem for the young guard was never developing enough appeal with his on-court product beyond his scoring ability. Even that, in itself, was inconsistent and often inefficient.
Smith will have to earn his path back to the NBA moving forward. Barring a future in which he returns to be an impactful role player in the league, the Lakers should feel secure in making the right call to part ways with him before the offseason frenzy started.
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