Marcus Smart has proven to be an integral part of the strong team the Boston Celtics is building. The Texan-born player, who was selected as the sixth overall winner in the 2014 NBA Draft, is considered a persistent player whose value to the team is not evident on the statistics sheet but is felt by his teammates.
Marcus Smart Bio, Age
Marcus Smart was born as a son of Camellia and Billy Frank Smart on March 6, 1994, in Flower Mound, Texas. Even as a young boy he showed a considerable amount of talent in basketball and soccer, as well as the hunger and competitiveness needed to excel in these disciplines.
However, Smart stopped playing soccer in the sixth grade and began to focus on basketball. He then attended Edward S. Marcus High School, where he was considered one of the best players in the state. He led his team to two 5A State Championships after setting a record of 115-6 for three years. In his senior year, Smart averaged 15.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5 assists per game and was named McDonald’s All-American and ESPNHS All-American, but most importantly, he was awarded the 2012 Texas Mr. Basketball Award.
After high school, Marcus Smart enrolled at Oklahoma State University where he became an instant sensation, leading his team to a 24-8 record and third place in the Big 12 with 15.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game. Although he was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA round this year, Smart was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year, USBWA National Freshman of the Year, and the first team in the All-Big 12.
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Rumor had it that Smart would give up his remaining college years and go straight to the league, but he still decided to return to his school for his second season. He averaged 18.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game and was named one of 30 finalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year award. He was also re-included in the All-Big 12’s first-team selection, after which he was nominated for the draft, where he was selected by the Boston Celtics as the sixth overall.
Career Stats
After his first season in the big league, Marcus Smart was appointed to the second all-rookie team in the NBA. He earned this distinction by starting 38 of the 67 games he played in, averaging 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. He also averaged 9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 4 playoff games.
In the season 2015-16 Smart scored an average of 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists. This season, he also scored his first triple-double in his career in a game against the Phoneix Suns in which he came off the bench and scored 10 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds. In the 2016 playoffs, he averaged 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 6 games.
In the 2016-17 season, he averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. In the 2017 playoffs, he averaged 8.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game in 18 games. In the following season, he averaged 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. In the 2018 playoffs, he averaged 9.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game in 15 games.
Marcus Smart Salary
In 2014, after Marcus Smart joined the Boston franchise through the draft, he put a 2-year contract for $6.71 million on paper. In the middle of this contract, Boston decided to extend the contract by offering the player a one-year extension of $3.58 million, which he signed. On October 31, 2016, Boston decided to renew Smart’s contract again for the 2017-18 season and offered him $4.54 million.
After playing in the NBA for four seasons, Marcus Smart qualified for the unconditional voluntary offer, but on June 29, 2018, he was offered $6 million, which meant that the Celtics retained the right to negotiate. The Celtics were able to do so because Smart had a one-year contract. A few weeks after the offer, Smart signed a four-year contract for $52 million to stay on the team, which brought his average annual salary to $13 million.
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Family
Marcus Smart maintains a very close relationship with his family, who he credits for keeping him on a straight path to the NBA. This includes his parents and his three older brothers: Todd, Jeff, and Michael.
When Smart was nine years old, the now hard-boiled guardian lost his oldest brother, Todd Westbrook, to cancer. Todd was on his way to becoming a basketball superstar until he was diagnosed with the disease at the young age of 15. In 2004 he turned 33 and struggled with it for a long time before he kicked the bucket.
In April 2018, Smart revealed that his mother had also been diagnosed with cancer, more specifically bone marrow cancer. He also revealed that a bone marrow transplant was out of the question for his mother, but that doctors and everyone else involved were working hard to find a possible solution.
Height, Weight, And Other Facts
Birth Name: Marcus Osmond Smart
Date of Birth: March 6, 1994
Place of Birth: Flower Mound, Texas
Nationality: American
Height: 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m)
Weight: 220 pounds (100 kg)
