Lakers get Marcus Smart back at perfect time

As Marcus Smart walked to the Lakers’ podium for his first postgame media appearance following the Lakers’ win over the Suns on Friday, he made a statement that carried more weight than just the four words that came out of his mouth.

“It seems like a long time,” he said as he sat down before taking questions from reporters.

And it was.

Not just because Smart was sidelined for nine games with a right ankle injury before returning to the court Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

But because how much has changed for him and the Lakers over the past three weeks.

When Smart suffered the injury in a win over the Magic on March 21, the Lakers were putting the finishing touches on a season-best nine-game winning streak, their most straight wins in a single season since 2019-20.

Luka Doncic was in the midst of a stretch of play that earned him Western Conference Player of the Month honors in March as part of his quest for the league’s Most Valuable Player. The Lakers won 12 of 13 games. They’ve been integrating in the ways they’ve been hoping for all season.

This was not the team Smart returned to.

Not only did the Lakers lose their winning streak with a loss in Detroit on March 23 in the first game Smart missed with an ankle injury, but they lost their stars in Doncic and Austin Reeves to regular season-ending injuries.

“You hurt us,” Smart said. “It hurt our morale. It took us a while to get ourselves back together, but we trust each other. We talked through it, and this is new for us too, and we’re trying to figure it out together. But we’re constantly seeing it and doing what we’re supposed to do.”

“That means everyone has to step up their roles. Everyone has to step up their game. Even me. Maybe I play more on both ends of the pitch, just being that initiator, the one who gets us up front, finds the players, and then [finding] Suitable places for myself too.”

It didn’t take long for Smart to get into those right spots, reminding the Lakers of what they missed while he was sidelined.

And what will they need from him now that he’s back with the playoffs on the horizon.

After Smart missed a floater over 6-foot-11 Suns big man Owusu Ighodaro late in the third quarter, Ryan Dunn grabbed the defensive rebound, but Smart and Maxi Kleber wouldn’t give up the play.

Clipper raced to the floor with Dunn to get the ball, which came out of Dunn’s hands.

Smart recovered the ball in the air and quickly passed it to Jared Vanderbilt under the basket before falling over Dunn, assisting on a Vanderbilt dunk to put the Lakers up 75-58.

“He was great,” coach JJ Reddick said of Smart. “And that play was just emblematic of our efforts throughout the game.”

“Just a winning player,” LeBron James said. “He just makes winning plays. He’s been enhanced by the plays he made with Maxie. That’s exactly what he does — just makes winning plays.”

Smart said trying to get his ankle to a place where he could return to the field was “exhausting.”

Especially when the Lakers lost three straight games after injuries to Doncic and Reeves, part of a 5-4 stretch without Smart.

“Seeing my guys there and not being able to help, especially with things the way they are right now, we’re just so sad, it’s been tough,” Smart added. “But everyone in the organization, players and coaches, just [gave] I support you full time. The coaching staff, we did everything we could day in and day out to try to accelerate that [while] Make sure we [not] Sacrificing other things can cause the ankle to flare up and we’ll be back to square one.

Smart is expected to get more playing time in the regular-season finale against the Jazz on Sunday.

His impact will go beyond the statistics in the box score.

That will be reflected in plays like the one he and Kleber made on Friday.

And the leadership the Lakers need to navigate through next week before the playoffs begin without two of their best players.

“We all know this is going to be a challenge for us,” Smart said. “But that’s part of the game, right? We see this every year. The playoffs come on and who can stay healthy. A little bit of luck comes along, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge. I’m excited about this challenge. I know it doesn’t seem like we’re a team, but we are. We’re going to have our highs, we’ll have our shortcomings, but we’re in it together.”

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