Ex-Laker Marcus Smart Makes Honest Confession About Playing With Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant has wanted Marcus Smart as a teammate for years, long before either of them ever set foot in Houston. Back in the summer of 2022, when Durant was pushing his way out of Brooklyn, Boston was reportedly one of his preferred destinations because he wanted to play alongside Smart. That deal never happened. Both players bounced through multiple stops since. Now, years later, the pairing has finally come together.

Smart signed a two-year, $13 million deal with the Rockets this offseason after he declined his player option with the Lakers. He addressed the new partnership at Houston's media day.

"I get to be on the other side of him taking the shots and not taking the shots over me," Smart said, reflecting on years spent guarding one of the toughest covers in the league.

"His ability to make shots, it doesn't matter who's there," he said. "And it also doesn't help that he's close to seven foot, and I'm close to six foot. And he just shoots right on top of me."

That shift in role clearly comes as a relief. "So to be able to pass him the ball and go, okay, now I get to actually watch the shot and not have to worry about trying to make him miss," Smart said, before adding that he's looking forward to simply enjoying Durant's game from a front-row seat: "I think that's gonna be the fascinating part, to be able to watch him do what he does best."

Smart spent last season with the Lakers after a buyout from the Wizards. He followed earlier stops in Memphis after nine seasons in Boston, where he won Defensive Player of the Year in 2022. The same year, Durant first made it known he wanted to team up with him.

Durant reportedly saw Boston as a "desired landing spot" during his trade request. This was because of Smart, though the two sides never found common ground.

Instead, Durant landed in Phoenix, then Houston, while Smart moved through Memphis, Washington, and Los Angeles before signing with the Rockets this summer.

The result is a partnership that took three years and several rosters to materialize. But based on Smart's comments, the wait hasn't dulled his appreciation for finally getting to play alongside, rather than against, one of the game's most unguardable scorers.