Marcus Smart has been dying his hair green to honor his late mother
BOSTON -- It's usually pretty hard to miss Marcus Smart when he's on the court. He's the guy diving for every loose ball and usually draped all over the opposing team's best player on defense.
It has been even easier to pick out Smart during Boston's run to the NBA Finals. Smart dyed his hair green ahead of Boston's second-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, and that's been his look since. (Though the shade of green has depended on how long it's been since his last dye job.)
But as the C's point guard explained to ESPN, his choice of hair color has nothing to do with green being the main shade for the Boston Celtics. Instead, it's a tribute to his late mother, Camellia, who died in 2018 after a battle with cancer.
"My mom, before she passed away, always loved my hair and the things I was doing with it, from the braids to letting it grow out. I started to dye it and she really liked that. She always said that she wanted to see me in green, but obviously she passed away so she never got to see me," Smart explained.
"So, when we started this playoff run, I was like, 'For her, I'm gonna go ahead and dye it and see what it looks like.' Everybody loved it, so now it's kind of here," he said.
Smart's love for his mother has always been a big part of who he is. After being drafted by the Celtics in 2014, he bought her a new house as a way of thanking her for raising him and for all of her support throughout the years.
He posted an emotional tribute to her on Twitter after she passed away:
Smart's mother is on his mind every time he takes the floor, and he continues to honor her in different ways.
