This summer, the NBA buyout market has been nearly as vibrant as the free-agent market. The Los Angeles Lakers took advantage Saturday. The Lakers made a badly-needed addition to their defense by reaching agreement with 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, after he agreed to a buyout of the remaining $21.5M of his contract with the Washington Wizards. Smart will slide in as the third guard behind Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, providing defense, ball handling and toughness to a Lakers team that was lacking in all three last season. The Lakers had the league’s third-best defensive rating in 2019-20, when they won the title, and were the top-rated defense in 2020-21. Since then, the team’s defense has been mediocre — not terrible, but also not a strength — especially after trading their defensive anchor, Anthony Davis, for Doncic. Smart made the playoffs in all nine of his seasons with the Boston Celtics, making the All-Defensive first team three times. The Celtics traded him in 2023 after a roster
