Smart was a part of a three-team trade that shipped him to the Memphis Grizzlies and brought Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics. Since then, he has struggled with injuries and is not that player he once was a few years ago.

However, the veteran guard looked to rehab his value and play winning basketball again by signing with Los Angeles. So far it has been a success for both parties as Smart is playing as well as he has in years.

Not many players can say they have played for two historic franchises like the Lakers and Celtics, so Smart discussed what the feeling is like, via the NBA:

"It’s 42? That I am surprised at."

We put Marcus Smart on the spot to see how many players have suited up for both the Celtics and Lakers… how many could he name?

6:30pm/et | NBC & Peacock | Sunday Night Basketball pic.twitter.com/d8RCeN9RAm

— NBA (@NBA) February 22, 2026

Sunday features the second meeting between the two franchises, Smart did not play in the first meeting in Boston. L.A. opted to rest key players back on Dec. 5, leading to a lopsided loss and not highlighting the theatrics that are baked into whenever these teams matchup.

Now with the Lakers fully healthy coming into this one, there should be more intrigue as Smart gets to play against his former team. He missed the first matchup between these two teams in Boston a couple of months ago.

The purple and gold have been looking to get back to the mountaintop and time will tell if Smart can win a championship on one side of the rivalry, which would tie the Lakers with the Celtics at 18 total titles each.

Marcus Smart was excited to reunite with Luke Kennard

At the trade deadline, the Lakers opted to stay quiet outside of trading for Luke Kennard. While it is not a flashy move, Kennard fills a role of providing a bit of a scoring punch off the bench, which L.A. needs desperately.

Before his time with the Atlanta Hawks, the sharpshooter was on the Memphis Grizzlies with Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia. Now he gets to play alongside them both in Los Angeles and Smart in particular was excited to reunite Kennard and it has been a great fit so far.

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Unfortunately, L.A. was given a tall task of playing one of, if not the hottest teams, in the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi Leonard has been on a heater, playing like an All-NBA star by averaging 27.8 points.

However, the Lakers came out with intent out the gates by dropping 41 points in the first quarter. Specifically with 3-point shooting, they seemingly could not miss and James spoke to what led to that offensive success and how they can replicate it moving forward.

“When we sharing the ball and we’re moving the ball and we have 25-plus assists in the game, we’re a pretty good team,” James said. “We want to try to aim for everyone, everybody to feel involved. I thought Smart, stay ready. I thought he was a true professional. You know, didn’t shoot the ball at all pretty much throughout the first three quarters and then in the fourth quarter, hit big time shots for us.

“So, offensively, we just want to, we try to have low turnover games. Which we we got to continue to be better at that. Not turning the ball over and giving teams pick 6s, but then just everybody feeling the ball, getting the ball moving. So obviously, it starts with Luka and myself and AR, we are the primary ball handlers, and getting everybody involved and not turning the ball over as much. So it was good offensive display for us.”

The Lakers had 31 assists on 44 made field goals as James and Luka Doncic both totaled 11 each. There was intention behind their offense and sometimes having that ball movement can create synergy, empowering a team.

Historically with Doncic, he tends to take matters into his own hands a considerable amount of time. James and Austin Reaves need to chip in and alleviate that pressure off of the league’s leading scorer.

For sustainability, it is best for the Lakers to have continued body and player movement if they hope to have a successful back half of the year. Hopefully, Friday’s win against the Clippers serves as an infliction point of re-energizing L.A.’s offense.

LeBron James praises Kawhi Leonard as one of greatest players ever

Objectively speaking, Kawhi Leonard has been playing like he is a top-five player on both sides of the floor. He turned around the Clippers season and gave the Lakers problems once again on Friday night.

Thankfully, L.A. came out with the win, but LeBron James shared high praise of Leonard, calling him one of the greatest players ever.

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Prior to signing with Los Angeles, the baggage that came with Ayton was well-documented and head coach JJ Redick has had to keep his starting big man engaged offensively throughout the year. If Ayton isn’t getting enough touches, his engagement level has shown to drop.

As a result, the big man has seen his minutes decrease with him often not closing games. To his credit, he is not complaining about any of it and hasn’t been a distraction. However, L.A. needs him to become an escape valve offensively, where his teammates can feed him in positions to score with ease.

On Friday night against the L.A. Clippers, Ayton captured exactly that and even had one of his best dunks of the year. He jammed Brook Lopez, courtesy of a pass from LeBron James in transition.

After the game, Ayton discussed that play and how special it was for him.

“It’s all about reads,” Ayton said following their 125-122 win. “I always watch LeBron’s eyes and once he’s running, you want to run with him. Amazing things are going to happen when you run with LeBron. And I was just running the lane, trying to give him the mack truck lane, usually that’s his lane and he threw it up. It was good, that was one of the highlights of my career. I needed that one.”

With playoff implications on the line, every single game the Lakers need to play their best basketball. Should the Lakers make it to the postseason, they will need Ayton to remain on the floor and not get played off.

Thankfully, there are 27 games remaining and L.A. occupies a bit of a runway to find their form. Particularly with the center rotation, they need to find a way to remain productive in a playoff setting.

Wishful thinking is that Ayton can return to early-season form where he is a reliable fourth scoring option. If he can, the Lakers can get back on track and stack up wins in a hurry.

Deandre Ayton: Lakers need to be better in third quarters

Third quarters have been an issue for the Lakers for several years now, dating back to before head coach JJ Redick’s tenure. Redick is aware of this lingering problem and has been trying to fix it.

Deandre Ayton sees it from a player’s perspective and acknowledges they need to come together to help find a solution to their third quarter woes.

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The main culprit behind their improve play is Kawhi Leonard, who originally was not named an All-Star despite looking like one of the best players in the league over the last two months. After struggling with lower body injuries, Leonard is finally back to form and he gave the Lakers issues by dropping 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting on Friday night.

Unfortunately, the Clippers star exited the fourth quarter at around five minutes due to ankle soreness. He did not return, leading to a purple and gold win.

Hopefully holding Leonard out was precautionary and it’s nothing of significance to keep him sidelined. James does not want to see that as he is a huge fan of the two-way star, sharing praise for Leonard after the game.

“Kawhi is awesome, man. He’s the best. He’s one of the best players ever,” James said. “I couldn’t care less about the injuries. Those are things you can’t control. You can only control the controllables and the things that he’s been controlling is how he comes back and how he perseveres every single time. That guy is awesome. I swear I have nothing but great things to say about Kawhi and the type of basketball that he’s been playing the last couple months. He is who he is for a reason. Not surprised by it.

“On another note, I was disappointed during the 2024 Olympic team when he wasn’t able to go with us. I was looking forward to teaming up with Kawhi too as well. A little disappointed about that when he had to deal with another injury. I was looking forward to spending some time with him. Listen, he’s great. He had 31 points in 12 minutes the other night. He’s awesome. I could speak about him all night.”

Since both James and Leonard arrived in Los Angeles, they have had some incredible battles against one another.

Leonard will be 35-years-old by the time next season starts and it will be intriguing to see how his games ages. The Clippers have roster decisions to make as well and perhaps their star’s time may be numbered, but one person who isn’t taking him for granted is James.

LeBron James explains how knee soreness began & desire to play through it

On the other side, LeBron James has had to manage his body as he maneuvers through his 23rd season. Leading up to Friday’s game, James was downgraded to questionable due to knee soreness and jeopardized the Lakers’ first chance of having a fully healthy squad.

Fortunately, he gave it a go and the four-time champion explained his through process behind playing through this particular ailment.

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Dating back to Redick’s NBA career, he earned the reputation as one of the league’s best shooters and eventually transitioned into a highly knowledgeable basketball mind. Thanks to a media career with a successful podcast and calling games with ESPN, executives could see his potential coaching philosophies.

All things considered, Redick has experienced a fair amount of success since taking the helm. However, championships are what matters to the Lakers and he is chasing that ultimate goal.

A gold standard for him is Pat Riley, who is set to have his own statue unveiled outside of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. Ahead of this monumental moment, the Lakers coach shared high praise for Riley, as he won four titles in L.A. during the Showtime era and believes that is someone all coaches can look up to.

“I grew up watching 90s basketball and those [New York] Knicks and [Miami] Heat teams,” Redick said. “And just how physical and tough minded they were and then obviously played against Riles in Orlando when he was still coaching. The culture word is overused, but the sustainable level of consistency that Miami has had since he’s been there. I wish, maybe I don’t because I don’t want to be 48 [years-old]. I wish I was alive and well to watch 1980s basketball. But, when you don’t have a TV until 1992, it makes it tough nor the memory capacity of 2-6 years-old to really watch those games. But, what he was able to do as a head coach for the Lakers is, I think it’s the north star for any coach to be at one place for basically close to a decade and win a bunch of championships. That’s all we can ask for.”

Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy or the most noteworthy names that get tagged to the Showtime era. But Riley was promoted to head coach after paying his dues as an assistant and he eventually paved the way for a historic legacy for the Lakers franchise.

He is up there with Phil Jackson as the most successful coaches to ever step foot in Los Angeles. It is great to see the Lakers give Riley his flowers for what he did during his tenure and hear Redick’s praise and he looks to carve a name out for himself too.

JJ Redick gives keys for Lakers in second half ‘sprint’

After All-Star break, it sets up for a frantic finish for Western Conference teams battling for playoff position. The Lakers find themselves in that position and JJ Redick shared the keys for L.A. as they prepare for a second half ‘sprint’ to get ready for the playoffs.

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