Welcome to our Lakers Season Preview Series! For the next several weeks, we’ll be writing columns every weekday, breaking down the biggest questions we have about every player the Lakers added this offseason. Today, we look at Marcus Smart.

In theory, Marcus Smart is a perfect fit for the Lakers. With an offensive-heavy backcourt of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, the need for a defensive talent is paramount in the starting lineup — or in the rotation at all — and Smart feels that hole.

He’s made a career off of being able to defend at the highest of levels. Even if it aged poorly, he did win a Defensive Player of the Year, signalling that, at worst, he was an elite defender who can provide the Lakers a huge boost.

In theory.

In reality, Smart is years removed from those days as an elit

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