Marcus Smart is thriving with the Los Angeles Lakers today, but for the longest time, they were the enemy. Smart spent the first nine seasons of his NBA career with the Boston Celtics, and his emotions once infamously got the better of him after a loss to the Lakers, their eternal rivals.
Back on Jan. 23, 2018, the Celtics lost 108-107 to the Lakers in Los Angeles after Smart missed what would have been the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer. Losing in that manner stung the point guard so much that he made a mistake that almost cost him dearly.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin stated that Smart punched a picture frame in his hotel room later that night in frustration and shattered the glass. That led to a five-inch shard getting wedged inside the flesh of his right palm.
Smart, who had lost a lot of blood, was rushed to the ER. He passed out along the way and only regained consciousness after receiving 20 stitches. He was then informed that he was a very lucky boy.
“The doctor looked at me in my eye and told me, ‘I don’t know how you still have use of your right hand,'” Smart told ESPN. “‘You should honestly be thanking God every day.’… They said [the glass] laid perfectly in between every tendon in my hand without damaging anything. And they had to leave the extra piece in, because they said it will cause more damage if we go get it out.”
The piece of glass that had sliced into Smart’s hand was millimeters from severing its use entirely. Disaster had been averted, and he’d only end up missing 11 games for the Celtics.
Smart revealed here that he ended up playing for six years with that glass inside his hand. He would suffer more injuries to his right hand in the years that followed, and is grateful today that he even has it.
“I’ve had two dislocations with torn ligaments in two of the fingers,” Smart said. “I’ve had glass in my hand. I’ve torn ligaments on my right thumb and had surgery there. I dislocated four out of my five fingers in total … my whole right hand just has been through a lot. So to be honest, I’m blessed to even have my right hand.
“For six years after the incident with the glass, I still had glass in my hand and I played with it. And there would be times where because of that, my hand would go numb. A lot of times, a lot of games, I couldn’t control it. I had to play and there were a lot of times when I’m shooting the ball and just, I had no feeling in the arm, the hand.”
It is quite remarkable that Smart was able to play at a high level in those years that he played with the glass in his hand. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and made the All-Defensive First Team in 2019, 2020, and 2022.
The injuries wouldn’t stop, though, and Smart would play in just 20 games in 2023-24 and 34 in 2024-25. The Lakers looked to be taking a bit of a risk last offseason by signing a guard in his 30s whose body was breaking down, but he has managed to stay upright for the most part.
Smart has played 57 games in 2025-26 and is averaging 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. The 32-year-old has shone on the defensive end and has proven to be a great pickup by the Lakers.
