Heat Eyeing Warriors’ NBA Champion Defensive Guard After Marcus Smart-Lakers News originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Miami Heat have continued to strike out on key free agents throughout the 2025 NBA offseason.

All Marcus Smart knew was playoff intensity in his first nine NBA seasons. Smart made the playoffs every year since getting drafted by the Celtics in 2014, so there was intimate knowledge about what the postseason is like from all angles.

One of the reasons veteran guard Marcus Smart decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers instead of one of the other teams that wanted him was Luka Doncic. Doncic reportedly communicated with Smart and made it clear he wanted Smart to come to Los Angeles,

The Washington Wizards are trimming the fat. That’s because buyout agreements with guards Marcus Smart and Blake Wesley have reduced Washington’s cap figure by over $8 million, according to NBA cap insider Keith Smith of Spotrac.

The Los Angeles Lakers currently have 14 players under contract and are just under the first apron threshold, where they are hard-capped, after adding Marcus Smart and waiving both Shake Milton and Jordan Goodwin.

“Jordan Goodwin was good last year, and they had to waive him to get Marcus Smart, who’s played like 40 games in the last two years,” Lowe said. “There is a universe, and I’m not saying that we’re going to live in this universe — the Lakers certainly don’t want to — where Jordan Goodwin is as good next season as Marcus Smart. He was good.”