Marcus Smart:

“It doesn’t matter what the percentages say, it doesn’t matter what the numbers say, you can’t go by that. We gotta go by understanding that we wear the Lakers across our jersey and everybody’s coming to try to kill us” pic.twitter.com/0qZLbvOzJ5

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) December 24, 2025

The Los Angeles Lakers have been slipping lately. They have lost two games in a row and five of their last nine games, and their lack of defense has been the main culprit. They have allowed at least 132 in three of their last five games, and the rest of the NBA is starting to fully expose this weakness.

Coach JJ Redick lamented the Lakers’ lack of defense after their 132-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. The team doesn’t have much time to improve on that end of the floor, as it will face Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, who are third in points per game and offensive rating, on Christmas Day.

After Tuesday’s defeat, guard Marcus Smart, one of L.A.’s few above-average defenders, sounded the alarm and said that teams are looking to “kill” the Purple and Gold.

“It doesn’t matter what the percentages say, it doesn’t matter what the numbers say, you can’t go by that,” Smart said. “We gotta go by understanding that we wear the Lakers across our jersey and everybody’s coming to try to kill us.”

The former Defensive Player of the Year also didn’t hold back when describing how poor his team has been on the defensive end.

Via ESPN:

“We doing [expletive],” Smart said. “We’re being real [expletive] right now, and it’s showing. … Every team goes through it trying to figure it out. You just pray that it happens early and we can fix it before it’s too late. But yeah, there’s really no defense, no scheme we can do when we’re giving up offensive rebounds in crucial moments like we are, or guys are getting wherever they want on the court.

“And there’s no help, there’s no resistance, there’s no urgency. So, it’s tough. And JJ is right. There’s really nothing he can do. It’s on us.”

L.A. may not have the players needed to become an elite defensive team, but there is no excuse for lack of effort or execution. While the team has a very strong 19-9 overall record, it needs to rectify such deficiencies before it falls further in the Western Conference standings.

It is currently in fourth place in the West and is 2.5 games behind the second-place San Antonio Spurs and 1.5 games ahead of the sixth-place Rockets.