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Despite a recent pursuit by the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Lakers won the Dorian Finney-Smith sweepstakes by trading D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.
While the Lakers hope to keep Finney-Smith long-term, the early expectation is he will decline his $15.38 million player option for the 2025-26 season and enter unrestricted free agency, HoopsHype has learned. Finney-Smith, a proven 3-and-D forward, is shooting a career-high 43.5 percent from 3-point range this season.
Milton has been an underrated backup guard this season with Brooklyn, averaging 7.4 points and shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range in 18.2 minutes per game. The remaining two years on Milton’s contract after this season are non-guaranteed, giving the Lakers low-risk flexibility as well.
Having acquired the wing defender they sought in Finney-Smith, the next item for the Lakers on their list is a backup center. The Lakers will continue to try and acquire Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas or another backup center on the trade market with their remaining future second-round draft capital, and Gabe Vincent is expected to be dangled in talks as well, league sources told HoopsHype.
Before the Lakers finalized the Finney-Smith acquisition, the Grizzlies attempted to acquire him by offering a protected 2025 first-round pick, Luke Kennard, and John Konchar to Brooklyn for Finney-Smith and a second-round pick.
The Nets preferred not to take back the $18.5 million remaining on Konchar’s contract through the 2026-27 season. In addition, with four first-round picks already in the 2025 draft, the Nets didn’t need another projected late first-round pick on paper, while Memphis was unwilling to offer a future first-round pick in 2026 or beyond.
After recently offering a protected first-round pick for Finney-Smith, the Grizzlies showed they value him. It’s conceivable Memphis will have interest in trying to sign Finney-Smith should he enter free agency armed with their full mid-level exception available for up to four years if they choose.
Besides the Lakers and Grizzlies, several other teams kept tabs on Finney-Smith, including the Mavericks, Nuggets, Warriors, Kings, Pacers, etc.
In acquiring Russell, the Nets will have the opportunity to flip him in another trade before the deadline or allow his $18.69 million expiring contract to come off the books and give them more cap space looking ahead. Despite speculation that Russell could be bought out before suiting up for Brooklyn, that’s not the case, league sources told HoopsHype.
Brooklyn will also get a close look at Lewis, a 22-year-old swingman. Entering the 2023 draft, Lewis had upside but fell to the second round and never got to play much with the Lakers.
The three second-round picks Brooklyn acquired can be used to acquire a veteran rotation player years down the line, as we saw with the Lakers acquiring Finney-Smith.
