Are Marcus Smart & Luka Dončić the Key to Lakers' Championship Run?

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Marcus Smart and Luka Dončić are officially Los Angeles Lakers!
After a shocking NBA offseason, Smart’s arrival and Dončić’s blockbuster move have created one of the league’s most exciting and unpredictable duos. On NBA Today, the panel discusses how Smart’s defensive mindset and leadership can complement Luka's elite scoring and playmaking.

🏀 Can the Lakers finally make another deep playoff run?
🏀 Is this duo better than LeBron & AD?
🏀 What does this mean for the Western Conference in 2025?

This episode features analysis, debate, and reactions to what this means for the NBA title race.

#MarcusSmart #LukaDoncic #Lakers #NBA #NBA2025 #NBAToday #NBANews #LakeShow #NBADebate #BasketballHighlights

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00:00All right, Celtics fans, look away.

00:04Sorry, Marcus Smart donning the purple and gold for the first time yesterday.

00:09Here he is addressing the media for the first time.

00:12When you get a guy like Luke calling, referencing, checking on you,

00:16trying to see where you're at to see and that if you want to come,

00:20you know, join something special that he's trying to cook up over here

00:23and for him to say that, you know, to see that he can really use my help,

00:28but that meant a lot, you know, played against Luke a lot.

00:33Been on a lot of opposing ends of, you know, Luka magic

00:36and to be able to come out and be on this side at this time means a lot.

00:43It first came, my agent, you know, I'm working out

00:45and I get a call from my agent saying, you know, hey, Lucas reached out.

00:49And I'm like, yeah, whatever, you know, like, all right.

00:52And then another day, same thing, Luca reached out again.

00:56And now it's real, you know, it's no longer what ifs.

01:00It's real and it's something we need to talk about.

01:02And that was a great feeling, like I said,

01:04and that's kind of what kind of got the things going for me to be here

01:07and I'm excited to be here.

01:09So there he is, Marcus Smart.

01:10George Sedato in for Malika Andrews today alongside Dave McMiniman,

01:14David Dennis Jr. and NBA champ, our guy, Kendrick Perkins.

01:18So, Dave, you shot that video that we just saw,

01:22Luca playing a pretty big role as a recruiter in the Marcus Smart situation,

01:26new look for him.

01:27So what does that tell you?

01:28Well, first of all, let's talk about the guy he's talking about, Luca Doncic.

01:32There was ownership by Luca of this offseason to stamp down

01:37that he wants to be part of the Lakers moving forward

01:39and he wants others to join him.

01:41So he makes calls to DeAndre Ayton,

01:43the guy who came into the draft with him as the number one pick.

01:46Now he's the center for the Lakers, makes calls to Marcus Smart,

01:50needs to fill the point of attack defender spot, the Dorian Finney.

01:53Smith occupied last year, he now plays for the Houston Rockets.

01:56Gets Marcus Smart to come.

01:58And I think as we look forward, we look at that August 2nd date

02:01when the Lakers can offer an extension to Luca Doncic

02:04worth four years, $222 million up to that figure.

02:09And I would say if you're a Laker fan,

02:11you shouldn't have any worry about Luca coming to some sort of an extension

02:15or an agreement with the Lakers,

02:17which means he won't just be a Laker for next season,

02:20won't just be a Laker for the season after that.

02:22I think at a minimum, we're talking about a three-year extension.

02:25Perk?

02:29Look, this has accountability and disrespect all over it.

02:34And Luca took it right into the offseason.

02:36And I know it's early, y'all.

02:37I know it's early and I know it's early for hot takes,

02:40but damn it, I'm going out on a limb early in this summertime.

02:44And I'm going to say I'm betting on Luca Doncic to win the MVP next season.

02:49This is the type of commitment that I want to see from a great player like Luca.

02:54I want to see the videos of him working out.

02:57I want to see that he's taking accountability for his losing weight and getting in shape.

03:02I want to see him being committed to the organization and to his franchise

03:06and to his head coach by reaching out and getting players around him.

03:10You talk about getting DeAndre Ayton, they got him right, a center that he needed.

03:15They also went and got a guy, Marcus Smart,

03:17who they haven't had a primary defender like that on the wing since Alex Caruso.

03:22And now all of a sudden, Luca is saying, I'm ready for this season.

03:26I took the disrespect from last season with the Mavs trading me.

03:29I'm holding myself accountable.

03:31And all the greats in the history of greats have went through some type of adversity

03:36or went through some type of thing throughout their career

03:39where they had to have an accountability for it.

03:42And we're seeing that through Luca right now.

03:46I'm sorry.

03:47Let me rewind a little bit.

03:49I just do not totally like the way we've been talking about Luca Doncic in this offseason.

03:54You're coming off of one of your worst seasons, not just performance,

03:57but it's like in terms of the expectation, in terms of the injury,

04:01the Mavericks moved you out to Los Angeles,

04:04and then you got embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs.

04:07And we're supposed to be talking about this guy who needs to be an MVP type of dude,

04:13and we're celebrating the fact that he looks like he's in shape?

04:16Like, that should be a bar, should be way higher than that

04:19for somebody of Luca Doncic's caliber of performance right now.

04:22You have to be one of the top three best players in the league

04:26for the Lakers to have a shot, not to be bouncing the first round.

04:29And I want to hear more than you look like you're in shape on Instagram.

04:33By the way, a lot of people who are in shape are still bad at defense.

04:36Being in shape doesn't stop you from falling asleep on back screens

04:39or being left on the island come playoff time.

04:41You have to clear way more hurdles than looking good in a shirt on Instagram.

04:46I need to see the Luca Doncic that is in that conversation

04:49with Jokic, with Giannis, with those guys like he was before last year

04:53because all this workout video is not moving the needle for me

04:56in the way that makes me believe that you're creating an actual contender

05:00with that Los Angeles Lakers.

05:03Well, David, did you keep the same energy with Nikola Jokic?

05:08Because Nikola Jokic had to go through a stage of his career

05:11where he had to get in shape before he...

05:13No, he had to lose weight and get in shape before he hit a stage

05:17to go win a championship.

05:18Giannis Antetokounmpo had to put on 50 pounds and work on his body

05:23before he went and got to the mountaintop.

05:25Steph Curry had to go, you know, bust his ass and put on weight and size

05:30before he got to the mountaintop.

05:32All the greats that have accomplished a goal had to reach some type of adversity.

05:37Hell, LeBron James had to leave Cleveland and go to Miami

05:41to learn the recipe and to learn how to learn to reach the mountaintop.

05:45Look, Michael Jordan, he took his bumps and bruises against the bad boy Pistons

05:49and the Celtics and had to get in the weight room before he reached the mountaintop.

05:54This is nothing new.

05:56Like, guys hit this as young players that hit the ground running

05:59when they come into the league, they hit their head on the wall every now and then

06:03and then all of a sudden they have to bounce back.

06:06Go ahead. Let Dave jump in.

06:08Yeah, it's one thing to hit your head against the Pistons,

06:14to hit your head on trying to bulk up.

06:17It's another thing about hitting your head against, you know,

06:19looking like you are in shape.

06:21We're talking about Jokic.

06:22I watched Jokic play a three-overtime game in the playoffs.

06:25I watched Jokic go full 48 and not worried about if he's going to tie a rod.

06:29He's gone seven games and pushed teams that limit.

06:32These are not things that I worry about.

06:34We're talking about LeBron's, Curry's, Giannis's, people like that.

06:37I do not worry about if they're in shape at the beginning of the season.

06:41I don't need to be worried about somebody like Luka Doncic.

06:44David, I agree with you.

06:45Defensively, he needs to show the commitment.

06:47But think about being in shape.

06:48He's been a pro basketball player since he's 15 years old.

06:51Last year, he missed seven weeks with the calf injury.

06:54It's the longest he hadn't played basketball in 10-plus years as a pro.

06:57So his body fell out of shape.

06:59The important thing is he's responded to it, worked on his diet,

07:02worked on his off-season conditioning.

07:04And you should get a better version of him.

07:06You have to allow for him dealing with an injury that no other guy,

07:10that he's ever dealt with before.

07:12You know what, David?

07:13You're also missing this.

07:14And it's been a couple years since we had this with Perk.

07:16His favorite mocktail is that skinny Luka.

07:19And we're getting it this summer.

07:20He's going to be drinking a lot of skinny Luka mocktails.

07:23Big Perk is going to have those ready.

07:24All right.

07:25With Marcus Smart now in the lineup,

07:27the Lakers get some much-needed depth.

07:29So, Perk, I hear something caught your eye.

07:31I'm Kendrick Perkins, better known as Big Perk.

07:36And nothing gets past me.

07:38Freeze!

07:38Just when you get past me, there I am.

07:42I spy a problem.

07:43I spy it all.

07:45Carry the hell on.

07:46And I do.

07:56And I do.

07:57And, you know, we have this term in my neighborhood.

07:59We have this term in my neighborhood that game recognizes game.

08:04And Luka recognizes game because he's played against Marcus Smart.

08:08Marcus Smart in him has battled a lot through his young career.

08:11And he knows, he knows what it feels like to battle a former defensive player of the year.

08:17This is Luka's spot.

08:18Against anybody else in the NBA, I want you to look.

08:21This low post area right here.

08:23Look at Marcus Smart being able to take the contact,

08:27being able to hold his ground without fouling,

08:29and make Luka take a tough contested side.

08:32Here it go again.

08:33Marcus Smart being the pest that he is,

08:36making Luka uncomfortable,

08:37forcing him to a tough contested two-point shot.

08:40Luka saying, I know what this guy's going to bring.

08:43I know the tenacity that he has.

08:46In Marcus Smart, in Luka's career,

08:48against Marcus Smart,

08:49he has shot 29.7% when Marcus Smart is the closest defender.

08:55Again, game recognized game.

08:57It's a reason Luka hopped his ass on that telephone to call Marcus Smart

09:02because he knows what he's going to bring to the table.

09:04Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that.

09:06I think Marcus Smart is excited.

09:07But, Dave, you kind of alluded to it earlier.

09:09How much of an impact can Smart have?

09:11Considering, look, he hasn't played 60-plus games in three seasons.

09:15Which is a great point to point out, George.

09:17But, obviously, he wasn't in the best situations in Memphis

09:21because of the injuries they suffered as a total team.

09:24And in Washington, I don't even want to call them Washington.

09:28He was with the Washington Izzards.

09:29You can't use the letter W.

09:31They weren't trying to win.

09:33He was so excited to be in the Lakers facility yesterday.

09:37It was like he got a new lease on life.

09:39He's back in a winning situation.

09:40Yeah, he's on the other side of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, of course.

09:44But he recognizes that both those franchises play to win perennially.

09:49And I think just that kind of effervescent attitude will do a lot for this group.

09:54He looks at it like we got a chance.

09:56I asked him.

09:57The West is stacked.

09:58And he said, well, I would stack us up against anybody else in the West.

10:02We have no ceiling.

10:03That, to me, that energy, that confidence will do a lot.

10:07Getting this ball rolling in the right direction from day one of training.

10:11Yeah, listen, I had Marcus Smart on the radio show on 710 ESPN here in L.A.

10:14And I asked him about that Wizards situation specifically.

10:18He looked.

10:18Wizards.

10:18Wizards, sorry.

10:19He talked about the finger being a real issue, obviously.

10:22But I asked him, look, sometimes these teams, in their situation, they want to play the young guys

10:29and make sure that those guys get some running.

10:31And he kind of laughed a little and says, yeah, you know, it's a different circumstance

10:34when you're playing on a team like that.

10:36So, anyway, all right.

10:37Marcus Smart isn't the only guy to play for both the Celtics and the Lakers.

10:42Shaq is an all-time Lakers great, winning three titles, three finals MVPs, and a regular season MVP in L.A.

10:48He also played his final 37 games of his career for Boston.

10:53And going for 9-5 in that stretch.

10:55Then Rajon Rondo, one of two players to win titles with both the Celtics and the Lakers,

11:00joining Clyde Lovelette.

11:02A young Rondo won a title with Perk back in 08 on the Celtics.

11:06And then again in the bubble with the Lakers.

11:09And then lastly, Isaiah Thomas finished fifth in the MVP voting for the 16-17 Celtics

11:14by scoring nearly 29 points per game and trailing only MVP Russell Westbrook in clutch time scoring.

11:19He also averaged 14 a game in 21 games for the Lakers later in his career.

11:24All right, Perk.

11:26Let me ask you a question.

11:28And this is a tough one because you know people are watching because they're always watching.

11:32Would you have suited up one more season if the Lakers would have come calling?

11:38You're damn right I would have.

11:41You're damn right.

11:42Especially for the vet minimum.

11:45Suit me up.

11:46And I would have did my role to the T.

11:49And that's sitting on the bench and being the extension of whatever coach they had at the time.

11:53You're damn right I would have suited up for the Lakers.

11:55All right, fair enough, Perk.

11:57I love it.

11:57Keep it 100 all the time.

11:59All right.

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