Brooklyn’s holiday sale continues. First, Dennis Schroder was sold off to the Golden State Warriors.
Now another Net is headed cross country: Brooklyn has traded Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers, a team in need of a 3&D wing. Let’s break down the winners and losers from this Sunday trade, but first here is how the trade shakes out:
The Lakers receive: Dorian Finney-Smith, Shake Milton
The Nets receive: D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, three second-round picks (the Lakers’ picks in 2027, 2030 and 2031)
WINNER: Los Angeles Lakers
Watch the Lakers play and one roster weakness that leaps off the page: Their role-players are one-way guys. Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish and on down the list are all quality players on one end of the court but a liability on the other. Compare that to contending teams like Oklahoma City or Boston and the difference is stark.
Enter Dorian Finney-Smith, a quality two-way wing heading to a team in need of wing defenders and shooting.
OFFICIAL: Welcome to LA, @doefinney_10 🌴 pic.twitter.com/s1k2jouTiA
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 29, 2024
Finney-Smith is averaging 10.4 points a game this season, shooting a career-high 43.5% from 3, and is a plus defender on the perimeter. He will be plug-and-play for the Lakers, quickly stepping into the starting lineup.
The wins don’t stop there for Los Angeles. Shake Milton gives the Lakers a solid veteran point guard off the bench. Plenty of Lakers fans will argue trading away Russell is addition by subtraction (although that overstates things, a little). Plus, the Lakers save a little over $3 million against the salary cap in this trade, giving them more flexibility below the second luxury tax apron for another deal (a big to play next to Anthony Davis, ideally).
Rob Pelinka rightfully has taken criticism for not maxing out the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but give the man his flowers when they are due — this is a good trade for Los Angeles.
LOSER: Memphis Grizzlies
Less than 24 hours before this trade was announced, league sources had told NBC Sports a trade of Finney-Smith to the Grizzlies for Luke Kennard and John Konchar plus a pick was “inside the five” yard line and just needed to be punched over the goal line.
That never happened.
The reason is Memphis was trying to drive a hard bargain (ESPN’s Kevin Peyton had the details): Memphis was offering their 2025 first-round pick (top-17 protected), which, as of today would be the No. 27 selection next June, but they wanted back the Nets second-round pick in that same draft (which as of today would be the No. 37 pick). Brooklyn looked at that 10-spot difference, looked at the three Lakers picks — most, if not all, coming after LeBron James has retired and the Lakers are likely rebuilding — and thought that the better deal. So they took it.
That leaves the Grizzlies without a wing who would have been plug-and-play for them. Memphis may still make a move on the fringes before the deadline, but this would have been a big win for a team looking to make a playoff splash, and it ended up being the one that got away.
WINNER: Brooklyn Nets (but could they have done better?)
This trade is a win for the Nets. Getting three of the Lakers’ own second-round picks is still a quality haul for a rebuilding team. Once LeBron James walks away from this team in the next couple of years, the Lakers will have to rebuild, and those could end up being very high second-round picks. Brooklyn now has 31 draft picks in the next seven years, 15 first-rounders, and 16 second-rounders. That is how you build in the modern NBA.
Also, getting Maxwell Lewis in the deal is not a bad flier on a young player on a cheap contract. Brooklyn will try to flip Russell in another trade. (Don’t bet on a Russell buyout happening after the trade deadline, because he is making $18.7 million this season, well above the mid-level exception, he can’t be bought out then sign with any team over a tax apron, or one that would go over that line signing him, which wipes out just about every playoff team.)
However, could Brooklyn have done better in this trade? If the Nets held out, could they have gotten a first-rounder from the Lakers (or worked out a better deal with the Grizzlies)? Maybe. It feels like there might have been a better deal out there for the Nets. That said, the Nets are now tanking... er, focusing on the draft, so keeping a quality player like Finney-Smith around just increases the chances they win more games and hurt their draft stock. That was part of the motivation for making their move now.
This trade was a win for Brooklyn. The only debate — and it is debatable — was if they could have done a little better.
WINNER: Dorian Finney-Smith
Finney-Smith is a high-level wing player sitting on a team that, at best, might be the No. 9 or 10 seed in the East and have to go through the play-in.
Now, he is on a Lakers team that, with a healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis, can be a playoff threat in the West (not a title contender, but win a round and maybe two). Finney-Smith will have a more significant role on a better team and in a brighter spotlight, which not only helps this season but also gives him options for next season (he has a $15.4 million player option next season; perform well and the Lakers may have to pay up to keep him).
