LA Lakers guard Marcus Smart has a $5.4 million player option ahead of free agency. Smart is widely expected to decline his player option and become an unrestricted free agent. While the Lakers are believed to retain the defensive guard, there are other teams that could try to pursue him.
One of the teams rumored to sign the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year is the Houston Rockets. The Rockets had backcourt challenges last season, especially after Fred VanVleet went down with a torn right ACL and torn meniscus before the start of the 2025-26 season.
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According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of “The Stein Line,” Smart’s connection with coach Ime Udoka could play a part in the Rockets’ pursuit.
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“The Rockets do, however, loom as a possible free agent destination for another one of Udoka’s former players in Boston: Marcus Smart,” the NBA insiders wrote.
“League sources say that Smart, who is expected to draw interest from Houston and possibly other teams in free agency, is very much giving consideration to declining his $5.4 million player option for next season with the Lakers before Monday’s deadline to do so and then proceed to the open market.”
Smart played for Udoka for one season, when he was the head coach of the Boston Celtics from 2021 to 2023. Together, they helped the Celtics reach the NBA Finals, but lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
After struggling with injuries before joining the Lakers, Smart enjoyed his healthiest season this past season. He appeared in 62 games, averaging 9.3 points and 3.0 assists on 33.1% shooting from deep.
In the playoffs, he helped LA reach the second round, averaging 12.9 ppg and 5.1 apg on 34.0% 3-point efficiency.
Lakers’ Marcus Smart Wants to Continue Playing With LeBron James
Marcus Smart wrapped his first season playing with LeBron James. For most of Smart’s career, he was on the other side of the court, facing James. After one whole season of being teammates, the defensive guard expressed his desire to be teammates with the four-time champion.
“You never know, LeBron has been doing this for 23 years, I’ve been doing this for 12,” Smart said in May (Timestamp @ 3:17). “We’ve seen some things in this league. Some things we probably shouldn’t have seen, some things you probably wouldn’t have thought you’d seen. So I really don’t know. I hope so.”
Marcus Smart said that playing against James was fun, and even being teammates with the Lakers star was also fun. Smart witnessed how intelligent James is on the floor and wants to experience more if it is in the future.
Edited by Reign Amurao