{"id":767614,"date":"2026-06-22T13:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/767614\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T13:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:06:17","slug":"marcus-smart-is-reportedly-favored-to-remain-with-the-lakers-over-a-starter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/767614\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smart is reportedly favored to remain with the Lakers over a starter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the most intriguing players in the offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers<a class=\"maisdio-link\" href=\"#\" data-sport=\"nba\" data-team=\"20000027\" data-name=\"Los Angeles Lakers\" data-track-content=\"\" data-content-name=\"mai-sportsdataio-link\" data-content-piece=\"Los Angeles Lakers\"><\/a> is veteran guard Marcus Smart<a class=\"maisdio-link\" href=\"#\" data-sport=\"nba\" data-athlete=\"20000560\" data-name=\"Marcus Smart\" data-track-content=\"\" data-content-name=\"mai-sportsdataio-link\" data-content-piece=\"Marcus Smart\"><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a player option worth $5.39 million for the 2026-27 NBA season, Smart has cards in his hand to decide which way to go in the summer. The same can be said about big man Deandre Ayton<a class=\"maisdio-link\" href=\"#\" data-sport=\"nba\" data-athlete=\"20001990\" data-name=\"Deandre Ayton\" data-track-content=\"\" data-content-name=\"mai-sportsdataio-link\" data-content-piece=\"Deandre Ayton\"><\/a>, who can pick up his $8.1 million option for the next campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Smart is reportedly viewed as more likely to run it back with the Lakers, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7378772\/2026\/06\/21\/lakers-mailbag-lebron-james-luka-doncic-austin-reaves\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Woike of The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While acknowledging both players for having \u201cout-performed their contracts,\u201d Woike wrote that there is no guarantee both players will be in Lakers uniform next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But if he is to bet on one, Woike thinks Smart is likelier to keep going with Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s not to say neither will be back (both have player options), but team sources have repeatedly talked about an upgrade at the center position,\u201d Woike stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019ve also spoken about a desire to get younger and more athletic. If I had to pick one to be back, I\u2019d lean Smart. I just think the Lakers want a more traditional Don\u010di\u0107-style center.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Smart had his moments for the Lakers, including in the NBA Playoffs. The 32-year-old guard can still bring a lot to the table for LA after averaging 12.9 points, 5.1 assists,\u00a0 3.5 rebounds, and 2.4 steals in the 2026 playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the most intriguing players in the offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers is veteran guard Marcus Smart.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,1586,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,326,6],"class_list":["post-767614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-lakers","tag-basketball","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-la","tag-la-lakers","tag-lakers","tag-lalakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleslakers","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116793913100296280","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}