EL SEGUNDO — Veteran reserve guard Marcus Smart practiced Tuesday and expects to make his return to the court in the Lakers’ NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“Back’s feeling good,” Smart said after Tuesday’s practice. “Felt good in practice. We did some tests, passed the tests. We’re gonna give it a shot [on Wednesday], see how it feels. But right now, I’m playing. Hopefully, can continue to feel better with another day … and it stays that way. But as of right now, everything is good to go for me.”
The 12th-year guard sat out the previous six games because of back ailments, most recently being listed as out for Sunday’s road win against the Philadelphia 76ers because of left lumbar muscle strain – a change in injury designation after being listed with lower back injury management in the previous three games and back spasms in his first two absences.
Smart has averaged 9.3 points, 2.9 assists, 2.3 rebounds and a team-best 1.8 steals in the 14 games (nine starts) he has played.
“More so, just wear and tear over the years,” said Smart, who hasn’t played since Nov. 25. “Haven’t played … extensively and [heavily] the way that they wanted me to play here [in two years]. So just getting back into the groove of things is common. The staff here has been doing a great job of managing it to the best of our ability, but also making sure we’re not sitting out too long, not doing nothing to where it gets more tighter. But everything’s been feeling great.”
While the Lakers are hoping to have their full rotation available for the first time in a couple of weeks against the Spurs, San Antonio could also welcome back one of its star players.
Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French star, traveled with the Spurs to Los Angeles after sitting out the previous 11 games because of a left calf strain. His status for Wednesday wasn’t known as of Tuesday afternoon.
Wembanyama is averaging 26.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.6 blocked shots per game.
“It’s not really a single mentality, just me relying on the coaches on how we attack him,” Lakers starting center Deandre Ayton said. “I’ll be doing as much as I can, but it’s a game plan where the whole team has to guard him. Just shut him down and make everything uncomfortable for him. That’s what we’ve been working on ever since we got back, just really just leaving the focus on him on the defensive end and making our defense create our offense in transition.”
The Lakers (17-6) and Spurs (16-7) last squared off on Nov. 5, a game the Lakers won, 118-116, after holding Wembanyama to 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
But Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox wasn’t available and had yet to make his season debut the last time the two teams faced off.
“He is obviously a very dynamic guard,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “You gotta do a good job of containing drives. And it’s not just him. Their guards: [Stephon] Castle, him, obviously, when [Devin] Vassell gets going off of dribble handoffs and putting not only pressure on the rim, but just his jump shooting, they’re good movers. They have good movers on their team, and so it’s gonna be a challenge.
“And Fox, he is one of the best guards in the league.”
SPURS AT LAKERS
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Amazon Prime, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM