Marcus Smart Reveals Tough Reality of Dealing With Lakers Trade Rumors

The NBA trade deadline is two weeks away, with teams around the league needing to ramp up their efforts to make moves before the buzzer sounds on Feb. 5. The Los Angeles Lakers could be one of the teams that makes a trade before next month's deadline, as the storied franchise has a few areas of needing heading into the second half of the 2025-26 season.

With the Lakers being no strangers to making trades before the deadline almost every single year, players in Los Angeles can be a bit on edge, considering the franchise's aggressiveness in trying to put together a championship-caliber roster.

Marcus Smart Opens Up About Dealing With Trade Rumors

As a veteran player who has been traded twice during his NBA career thus far, Marcus Smart knows the business of basketball all too well and recently shared his thoughts on what it is like for a player when heading toward the NBA trade deadline, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

“It's difficult. Because you just don't know, you build a relationship with the guy to the left and to the right, and then he could possibly be gone. Or you could possibly be gone.” - Marcus Smart on the long road trip leading right up to the trade deadline pic.twitter.com/9QoPzHivCs
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 21, 2026

“It's difficult," Smart said. "Because you just don't know, you build a relationship with the guy to the left and to the right, and then he could possibly be gone. Or you could possibly be gone.”

As per usual at this point in the NBA season, the trade rumors are swirling about the Lakers' intentions ahead of the deadline. The rumors range from the team standing pat to potentially make a big move for Giannis Antetokounmpo in the summer to Los Angeles making a blockbuster deal involving LeBron James.

There's no telling what the Lakers' brass will do over the next two weeks, but it does seem as though general manager Rob Pelinka and company are kicking around some ideas and trade scenarios to either really shake things up and simply upgrade the defense, which has been the squad's biggest issue during the 2025-26 campaign.

As for Smart, he doesn't appear to be mentioned in potential trade scenarios. He's arguably the team's best defensive player at the moment, and moving him would defeat the purpose of trying to improve defensively unless there's a change to get a significant upgrade in the backcourt.

However, if the shocking Luka Doncic trade last season is any indication, anything can happen heading toward the trade deadline, meaning no one is safe outside of the perennial All-Star guard.

Only time will tell, as trade rumors involving the Lakers will likely continue to pour in daily until Feb. 5, with Pelinka exploring all the options to improve the team's roster.