{"id":109884,"date":"2024-11-30T09:42:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T14:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=109884"},"modified":"2024-11-30T09:42:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T14:42:10","slug":"lakers-rumors-grizzlies-marcus-smart-dangelo-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/30\/lakers-rumors-grizzlies-marcus-smart-dangelo-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Trade Rumors: Could LA Pursue Grizzlies Defensive Ace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakers have struggled on defense in the past, and this year is no exception. Despite the standout play of Anthony Davis<\/a>\u00a0and LeBron James<\/a>, the team ranks <\/span>25th in defensive rating<\/span><\/a> (117.2), producing averages of 7.4 steals and 4.5 blocks but giving up <\/span>115.7 points per game<\/span><\/a>. In the teams\u2019 search for improvement on the trade market, one name from the Memphis Grizzlies could make some sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Trade Rumors: Could LA Pursue Grizzlies Defensive Ace?<\/b><\/h2>\n

A Familiar Face<\/b><\/h3>\n

During his \u201cNBA Insider Notebook\u201d broadcast on Bleacher Report, insider Jake Fischer <\/span>addressed numerous trade targets<\/span><\/a> for the <\/span>Lakers<\/span><\/a>. One of the names he brought up? Grizzlies guard <\/span>Marcus Smart<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe would certainly help on the perimeter defensive side of things. \u2026 Marcus Smart would, in theory, be someone who could fit right into that \u2018D\u2019Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino\u2019-type of package, where Smart comes in at 20.2 million dollars.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aside from their poor defensive rating, the Lakers give up an average of <\/span>13.6 made threes<\/span><\/a> per game (18th) out of <\/span>37.2 attempts<\/span><\/a> (12th)\u2014both areas Smart could curtail given his prowess on that end of the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, before Laker fans get excited about plugging Smart and <\/span>D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a> into mock trade simulators, Fischer mentioned an important caveat:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, the Grizzlies gave up two first-round picks in order to get Smart just a summer ago. I would think that you\u2019re gonna have to match that type of pick capital in order for the Grizzlies to part ways with someone who was just recently Defensive Player of the Year.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why Would the Grizzlies Trade Smart?<\/b><\/h3>\n

In his ninth NBA season\u2014and second with Memphis\u2014Smart is averaging 9.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game, doing so on .380\/.320\/.857 splits. He\u2019s a three-time All-Defensive team selection who won DPOY two years ago. Smart came to Memphis as part of the <\/span>blockbuster deal<\/span><\/a> that brought <\/span>Kristaps Porzingis<\/span><\/a> to Boston, and he was meant to be a mentor to the Grizzlies\u2019 young core, and especially <\/span>Ja Morant<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, why would Memphis move on from him?<\/span><\/p>\n

NBA insiders believe Smart\u2019s struggles, combined with the emergence of younger guards, could be enough to place him on the trading block. Last week, ClutchPoints\u2019 Brett Siegel <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The emergence of Scotty Pippen Jr. and rookie Jaylen Wells has league personnel wondering if the Memphis Grizzlies would consider moving former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, sources said. Smart has one more year left on his contract after this season and occupies a near-$20 million salary slot that the Grizzlies could utilize to add another high-profile player.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scotty Pippen Jr.<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Jaylen Wells<\/span><\/a> are both averaging around 12 points per game in Memphis\u2019s first 20 games of the season. Pippen Jr. has become an effective backup point guard to Morant, while Wells has started 15 of those 20 games to begin his NBA career\u2014in some cases, <\/span>supplanting Smart as the starting small forward<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart has <\/span>returned<\/span><\/a> to playing after being sidelined with an illness last week. Prior to that, he dealt with an <\/span>ankle sprain that kept him out for six games<\/span><\/a>. He recently put up a <\/span>season-high 25 points against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday<\/span><\/a>, shooting 8\/12 from the field, including 7\/11 from three. After starting the team\u2019s first five contests, he has come off the bench in the last five, <\/span>averaging<\/span><\/a> 13.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game in that span.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does Smart Make Sense for the Lakers?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Seeing as the Lakers need plenty of defensive help, it would not hurt to inquire about Smart. His play and the accolades that come with it show how much pride he takes on that end of the floor\u2014something that the Lakers have lacked at several points this season. Smart\u2019s scoring ability\u2014though inconsistent at times\u2014is another boost the Lakers could use, particularly off the bench if they were to replace Russell.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as solid of a fit as Smart could be for the Lakers, the question now becomes: is he worth trading <\/span>both<\/span><\/i> available first-round picks for?<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2029 and 2031 firsts were mentioned in a plethora of hypotheticals already, from stars to star-level role players. As great as Smart has been throughout his career, the Lakers may not want to use their available draft capital on a 30-year-old guard who will earn $20.2 million this season and $21 million next year. There are other options for LA to look toward, particularly at other positions of need. Smart may make sense in theory for the Lakers, but they\u2019re better off pursuing players higher on their list of trade targets.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lakers have struggled on defense in the past, and this year is no exception. Despite the standout play of Anthony Davis\u00a0and LeBron James, the team ranks 25th in defensive rating (117.2), producing averages of 7.4 steals and 4.5 blocks but giving up 115.7 points per game. In the teams\u2019 search for improvement on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":109888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,32,62,4721],"tags":[307,4907,49556,38,428,49058],"class_list":["post-109884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-jalen-hood-schifino","tag-jaylen-wells","tag-lebron-james","tag-marcus-smart","tag-scotty-pippen-jr"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}