‘Glass in my hand’: Inside Marcus Smart’s return from The Punch

MARCUS SMART METHODICALLY reviewed Anthony Edwards’ shooting performance in the box score while leaning back in a chair by his locker. It was March 10, shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers secured a 120-106 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, ascending from fifth to third in the Western Conference playoff standings.

As Smart meticulously examined each entry, his initial fatigue vanished, replaced by a noticeable spark of satisfaction.

Edwards, the Timberwolves’ 24-year-old star player, managed only 14 points, hitting just 2 of 15 shots from the field — including 0-for-5 during the 23 possessions Smart was his primary defender.

The very same Edwards who had previously dominated the Lakers’ wing defenders last spring, averaging 26.8 points during the lower-seeded Wolves’ five-game sweep of L.A., was effectively neutralized by Smart, the former Defensive Player of the Year who joined the purple and gold on a reduced contract months after that initial playoff upset.

While this particular victory offered a ray of hope for the current Lakers squad, which has struggled with inconsistency on both offense and defense to be considered a major contender in the upcoming playoffs, it held deeper significance for Smart.

He wasn’t expected to still be shutting down All-Stars at 32 years old.

Especially not after his two preceding seasons, plagued by injuries and irrelevance, spent in what felt like basketball obscurity.

He appeared in only 20 games for a 27-win Memphis Grizzlies team in 2023-2024 and 15 games for an 18-win Washington Wizards team the year before, all while his former squad, the Boston Celtics, achieved a championship without him.

And he certainly wasn’t anticipated to be gripping a stat sheet with his right hand, a hand he came perilously close to losing eight years prior.

All these experiences shaped Smart’s outlook for the current season — an attitude he has implored the Lakers’ star trio of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves, along with the rest of the roster, to embrace: If he can alter his career path at this advanced stage, after all his hardships, then why can’t the Lakers change theirs for the remainder of the season?

“We’re basically fed up with people talking trash,” Smart informed ESPN. “I certainly am. And if you’re a competitor, if you possess any competitive drive, you’ll feel the same way. So you want to strive to prove them wrong.”

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DESPITE HAVING PLAYED 56 games for the Lakers to date, and leading the team with a plus-minus rating of plus-209, the most impactful shot of Smart’s L.A. tenure still occurred while he was playing as an opponent.

It was January 23, 2018, and the Celtics, then the top team in the Eastern Conference, were visiting to face the Lakers, who were ranked 11th in the West at the time.

Former Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stepped to the free-throw line with 5.7 seconds left and L.A. ahead by one, but he missed both attempts, with the second shot bouncing off the rim directly into Smart’s hands.

Smart, who had already accumulated 22 points in the game, grabbed the rebound and dribbled furiously up the court until reaching the 3-point line, where he attempted a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

His shot struck the front of the rim and bounced out, resulting in a 108-107 loss for the Celtics.

Later that evening, at the team hotel, he mentally replayed the shot, and his frustration boiled over.

He punched a picture frame in his room, and this time, he didn’t miss, shattering the glass and embedding a 5-inch shard into the flesh of his palm.

“I was rushed to the emergency room and lost a significant amount of blood,” Smart recounted to ESPN. “I blacked out. … That’s how much I lost.”

Upon regaining consciousness, after receiving 20 stitches, Smart grasped the seriousness of his injury.

“The doctor looked me straight in the eye and told me, ‘I don’t know how you still have control of your right hand,'” Smart said. “‘You should honestly be thanking God every single day.'” The fragment of glass that had pierced his hand was mere millimeters from completely severing its functionality. “They said it settled perfectly between every tendon in my hand without causing any damage,” Smart explained. “And they had to leave the remaining piece in, because they said extracting it would cause more harm.”

Smart missed 11 games before returning to the court, helping Boston advance to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals that season before being defeated by James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics made the postseason in all nine seasons Smart was on the roster, including a trip to the 2022 NBA Finals following his DPOY campaign, before ultimately losing in six games to the formidable Golden State Warriors’ dynasty.

The following year, Boston fell to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in the 2023 conference finals, prompting the team to reorganize its roster, sending Smart to Memphis in a three-team trade that brought Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics.

It was in Memphis that Smart’s career began to falter — both literally and metaphorically.

SMART’S RIGHT HAND is crucial for his most vital ability: his defensive anticipation. He has accumulated over 1,000 steals in his career by expertly disrupting passing lanes. And his hand sustained even more damage while in Memphis.

In January 2024, he tore a tendon in his proximal interphalangeal joint — the first knuckle of his finger — effectively ending his season.

“I’ve experienced two dislocations with torn ligaments in two of my fingers,” Smart detailed. “I’ve had glass embedded in my hand. I’ve torn ligaments in my right thumb and underwent surgery there. I’ve dislocated four out of my five fingers in total … my entire right hand has simply endured a lot. So, honestly, I’m fortunate to even have my right hand.”

“For six years after the incident with the glass, I still had glass in my hand and I continued to play. And there were periods when, because of it, my hand would go numb. Many times, in many games, I couldn’t control it. I had to play, and frequently, when I was shooting the ball, I simply had no feeling in my arm or hand.”

Meanwhile, Memphis faced greater challenges. Ja Morant, suspended for the initial 25 games of 2023-24, ultimately played only nine games, contributing to a roster so severely affected by injuries that 33 different players suited up for the team at various points that season.

The Grizzlies failed to reach the playoffs — marking the first time in Smart’s career he was part of a team that didn’t qualify for the postseason — while his former team advanced to the Finals to compete against Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. “I followed every moment of it,” Smart admitted. “Does it sting? Absolutely it stings because you were there from the very beginning, before 2014, when Avery Bradley was still around, and you guys were in the rebuilding phase, so you witnessed everything develop. You were there when the foundation was laid and all that. So it definitely hurt.”

The beginning of his subsequent season in Memphis proved even more difficult.

Across the team’s first five games, Smart averaged a mere 5.6 points on 23.5% shooting (16.7% from 3-point range), and the Grizzlies struggled to a 2-3 start.

After an ankle injury sidelined him for two weeks, Smart returned, and Memphis posted a 10-2 record in its next 12 games before he sustained a partial tear of the proximal extensor hood in his right index finger.

Around this period, Smart recalls feeling a change in how the Grizzlies organization approached him.

He claims he felt compelled to play despite his injury.

“I wanted to be 100%, to give everything I had,” Smart stated. “As I’m still training and getting ready, they’re just like, ‘No, your doctor says you’re ready now.’ And I’m like, ‘I hear what my doctor said, but … it’s about how I feel. Yes, surgically the finger is fine. But physically, no. The finger is still weak. I’m still strengthening it. This is my dominant hand.’ So, they weren’t receptive and they just kept insisting, ‘You need to play.'”

Furthermore, during his rehabilitation, Smart heard “a rumor circulating that people claimed I didn’t want to be here,” he shared, despite actions that indicated the opposite — from gifting customized boxing gloves to his teammates, to his wife inviting the entire roster to his birthday celebration, to personally writing holiday cards and filling them with gift cards for all the staff members.

After a 21-game absence, he rejoined the lineup on February 5, 2025, in an away game against the Toronto Raptors.

His hand still didn’t feel right — he went 0-for-6 from the field — but Memphis outscored Toronto by five points during his 18 minutes on the floor, contributing to the win.

What transpired next made him feel like the “fall guy” for a franchise undergoing significant change, Smart explained. The very next day, he was dealt to Washington.

When contacted by ESPN regarding Smart’s assertions, the Grizzlies offered no comment.

The transaction was part of a three-team trade involving the Sacramento Kings. Memphis was required to include a first-round pick in what was essentially a salary dump, aimed at shedding the remainder of Smart’s $20.2 million contract for 2024-25 and $21.3 million for the subsequent season.

This maneuver enabled Memphis to circumvent luxury tax implications tied to its anticipated extension for Jaren Jackson Jr.

“The Marcus you received information about from Memphis was likely not as consistent with the Marcus he was in Boston throughout his entire career,” a Wizards source disclosed to ESPN.

“I believe many factors contributed to that. But fundamentally, we recognized his character as a person and felt very comfortable incorporating him into our group. And he surpassed expectations during his brief time with us.”

Smart commends the Wizards for their understanding and support during his 2½ months with the team.

“Washington was excellent,” Smart commented. “I simply needed to recover my health. … That was my primary objective.”

Smart reached a buyout agreement with the Wizards in July to become a free agent, reportedly returning $6.5 million of his 2025-26 contract, according to ESPN’s NBA front office insider Bobby Marks.

And then, the Lakers contacted him.

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LOS ANGELES FACED LIMITED avenues for improving its roster following that playoff defeat to the Wolves.

Aside from trading a future first-round draft pick, the Lakers’ sole option to reconfigure their roster was to utilize the $14.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception by not re-signing Dorian Finney-Smith, in addition to the biannual exception.

Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia shared the MLE, and Smart — who was personally recruited via phone call by Doncic — received the biannual, agreeing to a two-year, $11 million deal, which included a player option for the second year.

He stated his desire to prove that, despite being 12 years into his professional career, his previous two seasons were aberrations, not indicative of a career decline.

Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, he had a discussion with coach JJ Redick regarding the role he aspired to fill.

Redick recalls their conversation.

He was at a Fini Pizza in Amagansett, located in the Hamptons, and stepped out of the restaurant to take the call.

“I told JJ, ‘I’m going to go out here and give you absolutely everything I have,'” Smart stated. “‘I only ask that if I genuinely earn it, then allow me to keep it. Avoid excessive political maneuvering.’ And that’s all I requested, and that’s all one can ever ask.”

Redick mentioned there were three key points he wanted to convey to Smart, who had by then cleared waivers from Washington and was considering his next team. “It was, ‘We require your presence. We require your defensive prowess. We require your leadership voice,'” Redick elaborated. “The second aspect was, ‘I know you because I’ve played against you and competed fiercely against you. … You perform at your peak when you’re contending for something significant. If you join us, we can be contending for something substantial.’ And he concurred with that.”

And the third point? “‘You will play,’ Redick recalled telling Smart. ‘I don’t know precisely what that will entail, but I am very confident that if you’re at your best, you will see extensive playing time.'”

Redick honored his commitment, starting him in 49 games, where Smart has averaged 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Redick has tolerated his 40.3% shooting from the field and 34.0% from 3-point range largely due to the Lakers’ 111.1 defensive efficiency when Smart is on the court, which drops to 117.7 when he’s off this season.

Smart has drawn 19 charges this season, placing him tied for second most in the NBA, a figure already surpassing the 16 he drew during his DPOY campaign — with still a month remaining in the regular season.

“He brings maximum effort every night,” Reaves shared with ESPN. “It’s not always aesthetically pleasing, but his competitive drive will always be at its highest level, every single night. And you need players like that. I believe he sets the standard for us on the court to exert ourselves as much as possible, because you know he will do that.

“When he’s constantly in motion, flying around every night, it holds you accountable for the effort you contribute.”

“WHO ENCOURAGED YOU to miss it?” a wide-eyed Smart questioned Reaves.

On Saturday, shortly after the Lakers secured a 127-125 overtime victory against the Denver Nuggets, Smart was uninterested in discussing his decisive strip of Aaron Gordon, which led to a crucial layup with under a minute left in the fourth quarter, one of his five steals.

He had no desire to mention the go-ahead 3-pointer he sank with 30 seconds remaining in overtime, giving the Lakers a two-point lead.

He didn’t even wish to boast about his role in limiting Jamal Murray, a notorious Lakers tormentor, to merely five points on 1-for-14 shooting.

What genuinely excited Smart was his involvement in the tactical decision, specifically suggesting to Reaves that, when he stepped to the free-throw line for two shots with 5.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Lakers trailing by three, he should deliberately miss the second attempt.

Reaves flawlessly executed the intentional miss, and L.A. managed to hold on in the extra period, maintaining its late-season momentum.

“I feel like every game,” Doncic observed about Smart following the Denver win, “he contributes something distinct to help us secure a victory.”

And his dedication to defense has remained unwavering.

Smart has effectively contained 2026 All-Stars, such as Murray and Edwards, to a 44.3% effective field goal percentage when he guards them, ranking fifth best among 75 players who have defended 100 or more shots this season, according to ESPN Research.

“He brings a tenaciousness and a primary defender that they perhaps lacked a year ago,” said Wolves coach Chris Finch. “A player who can guard someone effectively on his own, without significant help. Which is genuinely vital, especially in the playoffs.”

And on a team where Reaves, Doncic, and James consistently capture headlines, Smart has made his presence felt in the locker room as a crucial voice.

“On this team, we have many strong personalities, which doesn’t imply these egos are out of control or negative. It’s just that everyone is different,” Smart commented on his approach. “We possess distinct personalities, and sometimes they simply don’t align at the opportune moment. It’s all about timing with everything.”

“And sometimes you might not feel well on a given day, or you might be performing poorly for a game or a few games, and it just doesn’t feel right. So for me, my leadership role was to simply ensure I could keep the guys united, maintain a positive outlook, and truly prevent us from falling into that ‘sunken place’ you often observe most teams enter during a slump.”

Smart, too, has experienced some challenging periods this season — much like the team. He has missed games due to back spasms. He went 1-for-12 in a loss to the LA Clippers, 2-for-9 in a defeat to the New York Knicks, and 0-for-7 in a loss to Boston.

Nevertheless, he has persevered. On March 3, with L.A. maintaining a precarious four-point lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans, Smart received a pass from Doncic in the corner and drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead to seven with 1:34 remaining, effectively sealing the game — a contest in which he also tallied seven assists, four steals, and three blocks.

“To possess the confidence to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to pass it to this guy in the corner right here,’ I definitely believe that it originates from the blocks, the steals, the sheer energy I bring,” Smart articulated. “Knowing that this player is putting in the work. And let’s reward him.”

He has had the third-highest number of starts, fifth-most minutes, and sixth-most shot attempts this season for the Lakers. He has been involved in virtually every aspect of their game.

“He’s significantly influenced our success,” Redick noted. “And I think that, ultimately, is … that’s how you redefine the narrative of your career, by being part of a winning team.”

ESPN’s Matt Williams contributed to this report.