Marcus Smart

Taylor Geas

The act of taking a charge is representative of true selflessness and sacrifice, it requires top-tier defensive intellect…and the Los Angeles Lakers have three guys ranked in the top 10 in the league.

How do you become the type of player who seeks out the most brutal play in basketball? Grow up with two older brothers who used to rough you up as a kid.

Yes, if you got tuned up by an older sibling or even a cousin, you will probably willingly perform this sacrificial basketball play. Maybe alongside a few more attributes.

That’s the case for Marcus Smart, who ranks second in the league at the time this article was written with 20 charges drawn, and Austin Reaves, tied at fourth with 15.

Smart and Reaves are wildly different players, but that’s the interesting part of this act, it doesn’t have to do with role, position, or specialty. It’s personality. Mindset. A will, Smart said.

Growing up to be someone who’s okay with getting speared in the chest for the good of the team is the result of “just being a warrior, I guess,” as Smart put it. “I was the youngest of four boys so having to fight, having to defend myself is always something I’ve had to do and been really good at. I don’t see any difference here on the basketball court.”

For Reaves, also the younger sibling who used to get banged up by his brother, it was his only option. “I was never athletic enough to get blocks. The next best thing was to take a charge. My parents were pretty strict with me growing up. They’d tell me, ‘You can’t get out of the way.’”

“Yeah, they considered it a winning play as well.”

“That’s a sacrificial play,” head coach JJ Redick said. “You’ve got to put your body on the line. The guys have been motivated to do that all year.”

It shows: the Lakers lead the league with 60 charges taken, with a handful of games still remaining. They also have three players ranked in the top 10; Luka Dončić being the third.

Drawing a charge is the ultimate winning play because, according to Smart, it’s the only thing in basketball that does four positive things for you. “It’s an offensive foul. It’s a

team turnover. It’s also a personal foul. And it’s most likely on one of the team’s best players which probably deters them from coming in the next time.”

But the margin for error in drawing a charge is small; the act has to be precise. The defender must be set, with two feet in place before the shooter goes up. The defender has to be in the right spot, if their foot’s in the restricted area, they’ll be called. The defender has to absorb contact from a low shoulder or drive through the torso. And most importantly, the defender has to lose balance, they have to fall.

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That’s got to be the most unnerving part, knowing you’re going down. But elite athletes train their bodies to fall the right way. It comes down to reflexes, absorbing impact, and changing the direction of your momentum. Skateboarders do this. Gymnasts do too. And so do basketball players. “You learn to fall more gracefully. I don’t know if there’s an actual science behind it,” Reaves noted.

Maybe a little science, maybe a little art. But the better you get at falling, the braver you can be.

Smart says timing comes down to instincts; Reaves cites intuition.

When taking a charge in the post, Smart encourages setting your feet right before the player gets to his gather and takes off. But at halfcourt, it’s about predicting a player’s tendencies. If you know a player always goes right, get set and see.

“It’s not fun. There’s nothing fun about it. There’s nothing flashy about it. But it helps the team tremendously,” Smart pointed out.

When asked if there was anybody in the league he wouldn’t take a charge from, Smart replied, “Actually no. There’s nobody in the league I wouldn’t take a charge from. I’ve taken a charge from pretty much everybody that you would say or think you wouldn’t want to take a charge from.”

“Oh Zion (Williamson),” he says quickly with a laugh. “I told y’all when we were doing media one time, he was going downhill when we were playing them here and I just got out the way. I was like I think it’s more beneficial for our team for me not to be completely broken.”

As one of the Lakers primary ballhandlers and avid scorers, it was a wise decision.

Speaking of scorers, there’s another primary ballhandler sporting purple and gold who’s on the NBA’s top ten list for drawing charges this season, for the first time in his career.

Dončić ranks seventh with 14 charges, yes, one behind Reaves.

“Just trying to copy Marcus and AR,” Dončić gave as his reasoning.

But Smart speculated it’s a defensive tactic that serves prolific scorers.

Dončić didn’t seek guidance from Smart per say, “I think he was just watching and understanding,” Smart said. “I think more so watching Austin who’s not a player that’s necessarily known for sacrificing his body. He probably said, if he can do it, I can do it.”

Reaves laughed and shared how Dončić told him the other day that he’s taken more charges this year than in his career combined. “When you have your best player willing to sacrifice his body, that means a lot,” he said.

But unlike Smart and Reaves, Luka doesn’t have an older brother or sister who used to toughen him up. His main role on this team is to score in a miraculous fashion. So why does he do it?

“It’s more about the group and who’s committed to winning and whatever it takes to win. Everybody’s bought into doing all the things that aren’t the most fun to do,” Reaves said.

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The Art of Taking a Charge

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How Marcus Smart Warms Up to Leave Everything on the Court

“If somebody followed me for a day,” explained Marcus Smart, “I think what would surprise them the most is how chill of a guy I am. And how goofy I really am. I’m just a big kid, but you see me on the court, you see me in a whole different light.” “You’re mean on the court,” he was told. “I’m way meaner,” he replied with a laugh. “I’m way more intense. That’s my motto. If anyone really knows me, they understand when I step on the court in between the lines, it’s time to work. We’re going to work. And then afterwards we can have all the fun in the world. But when we’re on the court, we’re working.” This is exactly what the Lakers want this season—guys who will play hard and who will play hard “Every. Single. Night.” As head coach JJ Redick noted. He’s called on certain games as reference points of playing hard, games that the team can call back to, imitate, and along the course of the season surpass. It was their second game of the season versus Minnesota, their first encounter with the team who knocked them out of playoff contention last year, where Redick denoted the victory as his team’s first reference point of playing hard this season. “Did you feel it? Because I saw it. I felt it. And I didn’t play,” Redick declared. He wants the team to see physicality as second nature. He wants the team to make playing hard a habit.  That’s Smart. Always has been. Effort’s non-negotiable. He learned at a young age people rely on how hard he plays, people outside of just his teammates. He experienced a heartbreak that would harden him in a certain way forever. “The biggest one for me is when my oldest brother passed away,” Smart explained. “I got to the hospital, and the oldest brother that was living pulls me to the side while my whole family’s crying and goes, ‘You don’t have the luxury to cry. You don’t have the luxury to be a child anymore. Those days are over. You’re the last one that mom has. If you don’t make it, the family falls.’” His entire world changed when he lost his brother Todd Westbrook to leukemia.  “When that happened as a kid, my whole mindset changed. I moved my family an hour away from Dallas when I was going into my ninth-grade year. I decided we’re moving; this is what we’re going to do. And the rest is history.” “This was the goal?” he was asked about his career as a professional basketball player. He answered, “This was the goal. No looking back.” 

“Do you know what a banshee is?” Redick asked. “It’s a figure in Gaelic folklore. It’s a spirit of a dead woman who’s warning of an impending death. In Na’vi culture it’s a flying creature used for war from the movie Avatar. In the video game Halo, it’s the Covenant warship with two plasma guns. And in Laker culture, it’s somebody that’s all in, two feet in the circle, a faucet not a drain.” Smart’s a banshee; the faucet kind. He learned this from his mother. He explained how, being the youngest of four boys and being a “momma’s boy,” he watched his mom give her family everything they needed. He said it was a luxury to have basketball shoes, to go to school, to have a roof over his head, and it was all because of the sacrifices she made. “That’s exactly why I’m so tough,” he answered. “I didn’t get my own bedroom or bed until my freshman year of college. All the way through high school, I slept either on the floor or on the couch.” “That’s why I leave everything on the court, my brother never got the chance to,” Smart said. Redick knows Smart gives everything and he wants him to set the tone and be the leader of physicality for this team. In the Lakers’ first game against Golden State, after Smart notched his fourth personal foul, Redick said he approached him: “I was like alright, we’re good, we’re good, we’re good. You’ve got to calm yourself a little bit!” But Redick continued that with Smart and Jarred Vanderbilt, you’ve got to live with moments of excessive force. “That’s part of their DNA—to be disruptive,” he said. “And frankly we need that.” Smart’s intensity is felt through the team. Deandre Ayton said how the energy Smart brings each night can change the course of a game. He called back to when Smart checked in against Minnesota and said seeing him dive on the floor after just getting into the game struck him. It motivated Ayton to impact the game as well. “It’s hard to put that fight in your guys if you’re not out there doing it,” Smart explained. Redick knows if you’re the physical team you will incite the other team to get physical back. You’ll have the opportunity to draw fouls. Smart knows this. “The toughest team sets the rules,” he said. “That’s the motto. I’ve been in this league for 12 years and that’s always been the motto. You see it—the team that comes out more physical; the momentum kind of goes their way. We want to be the toughest team from the start to the end.” And so far, Smart’s defensive impact has influenced his teammates. It was during training camp a few months ago when Luka Dončić explained that he believed having Smart join the Lakers would make him a better defender. And in the team’s win over San Antonio, Dončić had five steals and two blocks accompanying his 35 points, 13 assists, and nine rebounds. “His energy on the defensive end, he does some things I’ve never seen in my life,” Dončić explained, “like how he dives for the ball. And then on the other hand, his leadership and communication on defense, it’s been everything for us.” Smart explained how Luka has excellent defensive capabilities, but for him to go out and put up the offensive numbers he does every night, that needs to be his main focus. And the same goes for him. They both are hellbent on their respective roles. Smart is so hellbent, numbers mean very little to him. In the last week of October, he was +45 through four games. In the Lakers’ second game of the season, he was +24 to which he commented, “For me, unfortunately, stats aren’t going to do me any justice. I try not to worry about it. I try to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do. Help my teammates out the best way I can. Being +24 is great, it shows the impact that can be made without touching the ball, scoring the ball, shooting the ball.” Really what matters the most to Smart (and Redick and his coaching staff) is playing hard. Redick has talked a lot about delineating playing hard and thinking you’re playing hard. Smart calls it “fake hustle.” “When you’re playing hard, you can feel it. You can feel the way you’re playing, you can feel the energy, your body can feel it, your mind can feel it. You’d be surprised how the game turns out because of that.” And Marcus learned the difference between fake hustle and real hustle when he was young. As the youngest of four boys, he explained that if you’re not playing as hard as you can, you’re going to get embarrassed. He remembers playing his second youngest brother in basketball. His brother hit him in the face with an elbow, so Marcus said he was done playing. But the brother wouldn’t let him quit: “Get yo’ ass back in,” Smart recalls him saying as he pushed him to the ground. They had a fist fight and went back to playing basketball. “That’s part of it. Protecting yourself and defending yourself at all costs,” Smart said.  And where he’s grown a lot since then, that’s stayed with him. But the difference between Smart now and then is his wisdom. He lives by what you can control. “When we’re younger, we want everything. We want it now. We don’t understand why. We can’t understand that some things you can’t control, there’s nothing you can do to change it. And you have to be okay with accepting that,” he said. Surrendering seems uncharacteristic of someone who on the floor won’t surrender to anything. That’s what really captures his strength: Sometimes the shots don’t fall, sometimes they do. Sometimes we get a bad hand. Sometimes we get a few bad hands.Smart will always show up.  

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Why Marcus Smart is the Meanest Guy on the Court 

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Media Day 2025: Marcus Smart

New Laker Marcus Smart talks guarding Kobe, winning Defensive Player of the Year, and more.

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Get to Know Marcus Smart

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed guard Marcus Smart.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Smart is a three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (2019, 2020, 2022) and was named the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He became the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.

“Adding a player like Marcus Smart to our roster allows us to compete at the highest level,” Lakers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka said. “Marcus epitomizes what it means to prioritize winning above all else – whether that’s making huge plays on the defensive end or hitting critical shots in key moments of the most intense games. He knows and understands playoff winning and will be a key leadership voice in our group. Surrounding our stars with two-way players like Marcus is critical to our overall vision of how we want to play and win next season. This is an exciting player acquisition, for sure.”

Smart (6’3”, 220) appeared in 34 games (seven starts) for the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies during the 2024-25 season, averaging 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 20.0 minutes. The 31-year-old has appeared in 635 career NBA games (387 starts) across 11 seasons with Washington (2024-25), Memphis (2023-25) and the Boston Celtics (2014-23), averaging 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals in 29.5 minutes. Smart has appeared in 108 career playoff games (73 starts) across nine postseason appearances (2014-23), including a trip to the 2022 NBA Finals with the Celtics. In playoff action, Smart has averaged 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 33.1 minutes.&nbsp;

The Texas native was selected sixth&nbsp;overall by Boston in the 2014 NBA Draft and earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors. He played two collegiate seasons at Oklahoma State University (2012-14), where he was a two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection and the 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year.&nbsp;

Smart will wear jersey No. 36 for the Purple and Gold.

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Los Angeles Lakers Sign Guard Marcus Smart

Joey Ramirez

Of the 12 prospects the Lakers worked out on June 4, the team brought back Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Marcus Smart for a second session on Friday.

Accompanying the three were P.J. Hairston (Texas Legends), Nik Stauskas (Michigan) and Matthew Hezekiah (South Carolina St.). Stauskas was originally scheduled to work out for the Lakers during the June 4 session, but canceled because of a shoulder injury.

"I hurt my shoulder that week so my agent didn’t want me going out feeling less than 100 percent so we just rescheduled for this week," Stauskas said. "I was glad they got some of these guys back today and I got to go against high competition."

Stauskas spent two seasons at Michigan and has been heralded as one of the better shooters in the NBA Draft. Despite skipping his final two years of college, the Canada native finished his career fifth all-time in three-point field goal percentage (44.10) and eighth all-time in three-pointers made (172) in program history.

"I think I offer a skill set that not many people have – the ability to really shoot it and put it on the floor and create for others," Stauskas said. "There’s parts of my game I’m working on, but offensively right now, I feel like there’s not a lot of people that can do what I do."

Along with Stauskas on Friday, Smart and Payton were two other combo guards participating, this time for a second workout. The possibility of playing alongside Kobe Bryant in the backcourt is something that has crossed Smart's mind on more than one occasion.

"I've thought about it plenty of times," he said. "Kobe is one of the greatest all time. To play with him and under him and have him as a mentor would be phenomenal."

Physically, Smart is one of the bigger prospects at the guard position, although he tested well athletically at the NBA Pre-Draft Combine in Chicago last month. One of his main goals during his second workout was to show the Lakers brass his ability as a playmaker. Smart ranked fifth in assists in Big 12 play (4.7) while at Oklahoma State during the 2013-14 campaign.

"Just trying to make plays, not for myself, but for my teammates also," Smart said. "Just show them I can play the point guard position if needed, but I can play off the ball also."

For Payton, he recently received an invite to the NBA Draft green room, a sign he could be drafted somewhere in the lottery (the NBA also extends invitations to other projected first-round selections later). As a junior at Louisiana Lafayette, Payton won the Lefty Driesell Award, an honor given annually to the nation's best defensive player. He also earned First Team All-Sun Belt honors for the second straight season and was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year. Payton believes his biggest strength that he can bring to the NBA is his defensive ability.

Gordon is also someone who has been lauded for his skills on the defensive end, the third prospect of the group who worked out for a second time in front of Lakers coaches and management. He helped anchor Arizona's defense during his freshman campaign, which ranked No. 6 in the nation in points per game allowed (58.6) and fourth in field-goal percentage (38.0). Although he was inconsistent on the offensive end as far as his jump shot (42.2 percent free throws), Gordon believes he's improved in that area of his game since the season ended, in part due to his confidence.

"I have all the tools," he said. "Now it's just sharpening my tools ... There's not one area I'm not focusing on. I'm focusing on every single aspect of my game, from top to bottom. All the little nuances, all the little intricacies, I'm focusing on all of that."

With the NBA Draft less than one week away, we'll find out soon enough who the Lakers select.