3 Players Lakers Should Have Signed to BAE Instead of Marcus Smart

The Los Angeles Lakers took a bold swing by signing former 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart to a two-year, $11 million deal using their biannual exception, which required them to waive to young guards.

Now 31, Smart is clearly on the downslide of his career. A former three-time All-Defensive Teamer, the 6-foot-3 Oklahoma State product has been a shell of himself as something of a troubled journeyman over the last two seasons.

In 34 contests last year with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards, Smart averaged 9.0 points on .393/.348/.761 shooting splits, 3.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds a night.

Bringing Marcus Smart aboard — which necessitated the waiving of Lakers guards Shake Milton and Jordan Goodwin — was a risky move, although in theory the addition made sense.

Still, the Lakers' money could have perhaps been better-used elsewhere.

Here are three options that might have helped L.A. this season more than the 2025-26 vintage of Marcus Smart.

Al Horford

The former five-time All-Star remarkably remains unsigned this summer, although he and the De'Anthony Melton have been heavily linked with the Golden State Warriors.

The Lakers were said to have some level of interest in adding Horford, although it seems that L.A.'s signing of Deandre Ayton may have had a cooling effect those conversations. Maxi Kleber and Jaxson Hayes seem destined to compete for backup center minutes, and Rui Hachimura often played small-ball five in 2024-25.

De'Anthony Melton

Melton is the kind of younger two-way combo guard with upside that Los Angeles should have targeted before settling for Smart. Melton is a bit of a health risk, too.

The 27-year-old suffered a partially torn ACL just 10 games into his 2024-25 season with the Warriors, but he had been in the midst of a an encouraging season with Golden State

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Across those games, the 6-foot-2 USC product averaged 10.3 points on .407/.371/.625 shooting splits, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

Jordan Goodwin

Maybe the hair metal superstars Cinderella were right all along. Goodwin has plenty of defensive upside, and none of Smart's wear and tear and injury risk.

Obviously, the Lakers could have just fully guaranteed his partially guaranteed one-year deal for 2025-26 rather than splurge via a bi-annual exception, but might he ultimately prove to be the better player than Smart, and thus worth retaining even at Smart's salary for the next two seasons? It's in play.

It's impossible to predict which veteran players will be amenable to surrendering money on annual contracts they'll never sniff again. Then again, the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns have opted to waive and stretch aging maximum-salaried All-Star guards Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal this summer, in deals where the players didn't lose much money but they did offer their now-former teams major cap relief.

Would 3-and-D Miami Heat small forward Andrew Wiggins, former Lakers champion wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (now with the Memphis Grizzlies), or San Antonio Spurs combo forward Harrison Barnes all be open to moving on from their own respective deals?

Wiggins is owed $27.3 million this season, while Caldwell-Pope is on a $22 million agreement and Barnes is netting $18 million.

None of these players seem likely to earn that much annually again, although at least Wiggins could fetch a yearly payroll more in line with a non-taxpayer's exception than the far cheaper bi-annual exception.

Los Angeles needs defensive help on the wing. The Smart addition addresses, in theory, both point-of-attack defense and more general perimeter defense, but he's only been on the floor for an average of 27 games across the last two seasons and has lost a step.

Wiggins, Caldwell-Pope and Barnes could all serve as 3-point release valves on offense capable of guarding multiple wing positions on the other end. But there's no guarantee their current clubs would be interested in moving on, and there's no guarantee that they'd be open to leaving money on the table.

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