Marcus Smart identifies a key reason LA hasn’t peaked

For the Lakers guard Marcus Smartthe best is yet to come for his team, as he offered an upbeat attitude at practice on Monday. While he is a coach JJ Redick took responsibility for the Lakers’ lapses on offense, Smart identified the bigger picture for Los Angeles.

Smart believes in the Lakers have enough talent to reach his full potential, and he’s confident he’ll find his stride between now and the end of the regular season, he said, per Khoba Price of the California Post.

“We’re good. The talent is there, we’ve got the pieces. It just brings them together. We haven’t been healthy, which is a big honor when you’re trying to put the pieces together. You’ve got to be healthy. Different lineups in the game, but I think it’s going to help us in the long run because we’ve got to see different lineups playing different roles, not having different roles. There’s work to be done.

“Everybody knows that. But we’re sticking with it. The goal of that is for everybody in this league to come in at the right time, get ready to play the best basketball you can play.”

Marcus Smart on how good he thinks the Lakers are and how close the group is to being the best version: “We’re good. The talent is there, we’ve got the pieces. It just makes them fit. We haven’t been healthy, which is a big honor when you’re trying to put the pieces together.” pic.twitter.com/2klR7CE262

— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) February 23, 2026

Marcus Smart and the Lakers scored a season-low 89 points in a 111-89 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

JJ Redick takes responsibility for the Lakers’ offensive shortcomings

Coach JJ Redick took the blame for the Lakers’ inability to find their offensive rhythm in a 22-point loss to the Celtics. After Lakers forward Rui Hachimura discussed his failed offenseRedick took charge.

For the Lakers head coach, he has to set his team up to be ready to go up against an elite defense like the Celtics, which Redick said, he failed to doas Khoby Price of the California Post noted.

“When teams play deep down, we have our counters and we just have to (execute),” Redick said. “I took ownership of it. We have our counters for the deep drop. We’ve got to do a better job…we looked at it today. Our lowest assist potential games are all against the deep drop, so I’ve got to do a better job.”

JJ Redick’s response to a question about the Lakers’ ball movement and whether the lack of it makes them more predictable on defense:

“When teams play deep drops, we have our counters and we just have to (execute)…I’ve taken ownership of it. We have our counters for deep… pic.twitter.com/vvfRZ1OAKSl

— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) February 23, 2026

The Lakers will host the Magic on Tuesday.