2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

not sure what to think of the move, DFS is a good defender and can get streaky from 3, but he doesn't add much on offense. With that said Dlo wasn't adding much lately either.

Last year, we were kind of reliant, especially on big games and the playoff series against Denver, on Dlo showing up. Now we don't have him, and we have no one who can match his scoring punch. Knecht is not there yet.

I'll reserve judgement until and if we trade for the big we need and right now I hope we go for a bigger name like Vucevic. We still have a bunch of guys to trade plus Rui is now more redundant with DFS.

 

Right now it looks like he did do well on the margins which is a good thing. While there’s a lot of natural heat on the Lakers, critics aren’t always wrong and I do feel like there was some validity to knock against him.

if he’s found his angle then great as I don’t think there were any real plans to move on from him.

 

NO! You do whatever you can first if there is any kind of chance to KEEP Reaves to play with Luka. You say one thing how much you value him but every other trade scenario you drop him in like it's no big deal. He's a special talent who does so many things so well and he's even more special that he's an Alpha who has IT between his ears.

 

A couple of articles from the Athletic if they haven't already been posted.


Zach Harper

The Los Angeles Lakers have been desperate to add some punch on both sides of the ball, and we’ve been wondering if/when Vice President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka would move some pieces to bring in some help for LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Now, we have a trade that could do just that.



The Lakers are sending D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, league sources confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN first reported the deal.

For quite a while, Russell has been rumored to be on the move in any potential Lakers swing for a significant player. His contract is an expiring $18.6 million this season, which would be needed to match any big salary number coming the other way. Many presumed Russell would be attached to some first-round picks to bring in a star. While Finney-Smith is not a star, and there aren’t any first-round picks heading to Brooklyn in this deal, the Lakers are adding one of the best 3-and-D role players in the NBA. They desperately need more of those guys.

What does this deal mean for the Lakers? Did the Nets get enough for Finney-Smith? Let’s drop some trade grades.

Lakers acquire Dorian Finney-Smith, Shake Milton
Russell, 28, has not exactly maximized his talents on the Lakers in this second stint with them. He hasn’t been a bad player, but he’s been inconsistent in figuring out how to fit in alongside James and Davis. We’d often see James get annoyed with Russell, and there have been viral moments of frustration from new coach JJ Redick as well. Now the Lakers don’t have to concern themselves with Russell anymore.

Finney-Smith, 31, is an excellent wing defender who has turned himself into a reliable 3-point shooter. In his last three full seasons in Dallas, Finney-Smith knocked down 38.9 percent of his 3-pointers while taking nearly five per game. We saw a dip for two seasons after he was sent to Brooklyn as part of the Feb. 2023 Kyrie Irving deal. But Finney-Smith has been back to shooting the lights out this year, knocking down 43.5 percent from 3 on 5.4 attempts per game. If he gives the Lakers that, plus his scrappy, non-stop defense on the perimeter, this trade becomes a no-brainer for L.A.



We should see Redick deploy some big lineups now. I’d expect the Lakers to start James, Austin Reaves (6-foot-5), Finney-Smith (6-7), Rui Hachimura (6-8) and Davis. While it’s not playing two seven-footers at the same time, the Lakers will have a lot of size for defending the perimeter. They need Gabe Vincent to be a healthy and reliable backup guard, but they also have Dalton Knecht (6-6), Max Christie (6-6) and Cam Reddish (6-8) for additional perimeter size. This trade does not provide the Lakers another star, but maybe they feel they still have the capability to swing a trade like that down the line, since they preserved their available future first-round picks to deal.

Milton might be able to add some minutes as a backup guard, but I wouldn’t expect him to be in the rotation unless Vincent and maybe one other guy is out or struggling.

Grade: A-


Buha..Javon is saying that we still have 2 2nd rd picks to trade?

Exactly two weeks into NBA trade season, and just past the 30-game mark they referenced before the start of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers made a splash by acquiring a 3-and-D wing.

On Sunday morning, the Lakers sent D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks (2027, 2030 and 2031) to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney Smith and Shake Milton.

“We want to thank D’Angelo for his second stint with us, where we celebrated some great moments and accomplishments on the court together,” Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement issued by the team. “We want to wish him and Maxwell Lewis well in their future endeavors with the Brooklyn Nets. With this trade, we are thrilled to add the physicality, toughness and elite shooting that Dorian Finney-Smith will bring to our core. We also greatly value the playmaking of Shake Milton. We are excited for our fans to get both of these players out on the court.”

Finney-Smith, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward who is shooting a career-high 43.5 percent on 3s this season and can defend multiple positions, is the type of player the Lakers have coveted for years. Their interest in Finney-Smith specifically dates back to 2023, including inquiring about trading for him last season, according to team and league sources.

The Lakers (18-13, No. 5 in the Western Conference) are excited about the positional versatility that Finney-Smith provides. He can play at either forward spot and can even play some spot center depending on the opponent and matchup (it’s easy to envision some second-unit frontlines of LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Finney-Smith, with the three switching seamlessly). The 31-year-old is the only player in the NBA this season to defend guards, forwards and centers each for at least 15 half-court matchups per game, according to Second Spectrum data.

He also becomes the Lakers’ best high-volume 3-point shooter. The Lakers only have two players — James and Austin Reaves — attempting more than five 3s per game, and neither is shooting above 36.3 percent. Finney-Smith is shooting 43.3 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s, 48.1 percent on open 3s and 42.5 percent on wide-open 3s. He’s shooting 36.9 percent on corner 3s (the type the Lakers often generate for their wings) and 45.5 percent from above the break.

In addition to his defensive versatility, Finney-Smith brings a level of toughness and physicality the Lakers have needed. Coach JJ Redick has often said the group isn’t as physical as it should be. Finney-Smith helps change that dynamic.

Redick briefly played with Finney-Smith at the end of his career in Dallas in 2021 and is a noted fan of his game from his media days.

How can u not love DFS.

— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) May 8, 2022




JJ was always a fan of Dorian Finney-Smith. They were teammates briefly and DFS clearly made an impression on him. Talked about him a lot on the podcast. pic.twitter.com/3qbFyZVvSd

— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) December 29, 2024


It’s unclear what the Lakers’ starting lineup will look like in the aftermath of this deal. The current starting wings, Hachimura and Max Christie, have been playing well as they have won six of eight games.Finney-Smith has been close to a full-time starter since the 2019-20 season. Early indications are that the lineup has yet to be decided.

Regardless, it’s a good problem for the Lakers to have. The most logical option is probably moving Hachimura to the bench and inserting Finney-Smith as the third frontcourt starter, giving the Lakers two 3-and-D wings — Finney-Smith and Christie — around Anthony Davis, James and Reaves. That also staggers James and Hachimura, who is more of a power forward than a small forward positionally and can take on some of the bench scoring the Lakers are losing from Russell’s departure.

The Nets’ asking price for Finney-Smith had been a first-round pick dating back to last season, according to team and league sources. They recently dropped the asking price to a lottery-protected first, and there had been buzz that the Memphis Grizzlies were considering meeting that price, according to those sources. But the Lakers became more aggressive with their offer in recent days, and the two sides came to an agreement early Sunday that didn’t require Los Angeles giving up a first-rounder. A bonus from the Lakers’ perspective was keeping Finney-Smith away from the Grizzlies, who entered Sunday second in the West.

There are parallels between this deal and the Lakers’ trade for Hachimura a couple of weeks ahead of the 2023 trade deadline. They sensed an opportunity and struck an early deal. This time, they completed one even earlier.

go-deeper
GO DEEPER

Trade grades: Dorian Finney-Smith a far better fit for Lakers than D'Angelo Russell

The trade creates financial flexibility for the Lakers as they move roughly $3.5 million below the collective bargaining agreement’s second apron and save a total of $15 million. Finney-Smith has a $15.4 million player option for next season. Milton is on the books for $3 million next season and $3.3 million in 2026-27.

The only potential concern for the Lakers after this trade is the amount of playmaking and ballhandling they have remaining on the roster. Los Angeles is down to James, Reaves and Vincent as their only ballhandlers in the rotation. Davis can help facilitate more in the half court, as he did earlier in the season. But the group could probably use another bench ballhandler, in addition to their need of a better backup center.

Milton, 28, is a big guard who can theoretically offset some of that concern with his scoring outbursts and playmaking. He’s averaging 7.4 points (on 46.5 percent shooting and 38.9 percent 3-point shooting) and 2.4 assists per game this season. But he projects to be on the fringes of the rotation when the Lakers are fully healthy. (Vincent suffered an oblique injury on Saturday, which could make Milton a valuable addition in the short term.)

To be clear, losing Russell hurts the Lakers. He was their third-highest-paid player for a reason ($18.7 million expiring contract) and was considered by many to be their fourth-best player. He was a ceiling-raiser — when he was on, pulling up for 3s and dissecting defenses in the pick-and-roll, the Lakers looked unbeatable at times. Before Reaves’ recent growth as a playmaker, Russell was often their second-best ballhandler and passer behind James.


D’Angelo Russell is headed to Brooklyn for his second stint with the Nets. (Jevone Moore / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
At the same time, Russell’s floor was low. The two lowlights of his Lakers tenure were his playoff performances against the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 Western Conference finals (6.3 points on 32.3 percent shooting and 13.3 percent 3-point shooting) and the 2024 first round (38.4 percent shooting and 31.8 percent 3-point shooting). There was a sense that his offensive unreliability, coupled with his defensive limitations, hindered his ability to contribute as the stakes rose.

Russell had regressed offensively this season, due to a combination of the Lakers emphasizing larger offensive workloads for Davis and Reaves and Russell’s decline as a scorer and shooter compared to last season. With Reaves continuing to develop as a primary ballhandler, the Lakers were comfortable moving Russell to the bench early in the season, minimizing his role to be less dependent on him offensively and, ultimately, trading him.

This trade confirms that Reaves is the Lakers’ primary ballhandler and playmaker alongside James moving forward. Reaves had double-digit assists in back-to-back games — including a career-high 16 assists on Saturday against the Sacramento Kings — and has shown considerable growth as a passer dating back to the second half of the 2023-24 season. The Lakers are 14-3 this season when he has five or more assists.

Coincidentally, Lewis, 22, is the player the Lakers last acquired in a trade — they traded for him as the No. 40 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He’s only played in seven games this season, though he has shown growth in the G League as a scorer and weakside decision-maker.

As The Athletic previously reported, the Lakers have been patient on the trade front, aiming to use their first-round picks (they have access to their 2029, 2030 and/or 2031 first-rounders but can trade two of those — 2029 and 2031 — at most) closer to the trade deadline when they had a better gauge on their roster. But the exception to that approach, according to team and league sources earlier in the month, was a shorter-term opportunity to trade for Jonas Valančiūnas, Cam Johnson and/or Finney-Smith. The Lakers have had an interest in Valančiūnas dating back to the summer. Brooklyn, of course, pivoted to being sellers when it traded Dennis Schröder to Golden State on Dec. 15.

As for what’s next, the Lakers will continue to scour the trade market ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline for potential upgrades, according to team and league sources. But the plan, for now, is to see how Finney-Smith looks with the group, get their injured frontcourt players back (Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood) and continue to assess the roster as the deadline approaches. In addition to the first-round picks, they have three pick swaps (2026, 2028 and 2030) and two second-round picks to trade.

Ultimately, this move was about better positioning the Lakers for the playoffs as much as anything. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, the Lakers are confident Finney-Smith is a playoff-caliber rotation player for a good team. The same couldn’t be said for Russell. Los Angeles added a big, tough wing who can defend multiple positions and operate as a solid floor-spacer. The fact that they were able to make that upgrade and not give up a first-round pick is a masterstroke from Pelinka and the front office.

Twenty-two months after their last trade of consequence, the Lakers improved their roster in the short term and still have the flexibility to do so again in the future. That’s a rare win-win.

 

Some Stein stuff on the trade...


The trade that wasn't

Nets found a market that didn't meet their ask. They had to settle for lesser picks

They want multiple firsts for Cam Johnson

Grizz could pivot to Johnson

Many thought we'd be dealing for Jonas and Brogdon

More on those players available for 2nds and the challenges the Bulls and Wiz are facing

 

i wouldn't sleep on olynyk as a trade target. gabe and wood or vando and wood works. if we do the latter, it's going to cost a 1st of some sort.

 

Well, he did build this unbalanced roster this past summer and AD has been begging for a big to handle the bruisers for TWO years now.
I just call em like I see em. I posted in the DFS thread that Rob does get his flowers for this trade. He gets called out when he underperforms, and gets praise from me, at least, when he does a good job.

 

He’s steady, sets decent screens, and totally serviceable.
He’s one of the bigs that I wanted Rob to grab this past summer.

 

My whole point is he has a better “chance” to do what you want with a big closer to the deadline, as opposed to landing this still possibly “mythical” big early in this new season and giving up too much. And you just completely ignore Vando, Wood and now Hayes not being available for this whole period of early trading possibly for that big, or to actually play to help keep our record considerably better while these transactions play out. This uneven team with its “full” roster available with a good coach to run it finally would have looked a whole lot better undoubtedly as well as having them available and a LOT more desirable as potential trade pieces.

 

We draft guys competing for the defensive player of the year and who dropped triple doubles with our second round picks, so I’m not excited about giving three of them away.

but getting a little financial flexibility is super smart, and maybe we do experience the addition by subtraction on the defensive side alone. It will also be nice to be distraction free from the Dio ongoing saga.

 

We haven't seen what it looks like yet, but having Max and DFS in the starting lineup perhaps allows Reaves to play with the required usage for him to be at his best. Players like Dlo and even Rui take away from that. Now Rui could be his best self off of the bench, replacing Dlo as the 6th man. DFS is not a lockdown perimeter defender, but fortunately, that need is not as important anymore with the emergence of Max. With that being said, defensively, DFS is a significant enough of an upgrade over Rui in the starting lineup.

 

Every single GM has to build a roster knowing there will be injuries. Neither Wood nor Hayes are options to guard the stronger bigs throughout the League. This has been an ongoing issue since we moved on from Dwight and JaVale.
As for Vando, he’s obviously been out long enough to not be able to count on.
I’m glad Rob remedied this by trading for DFS.

 

I hear ya, but seconds are always available to purchase before the draft.

 

I am not sure if they are that concerned with backup center. It's a 12-14 mpg role. They might just roll with what they have, especially with DFS now in the fold. Ideally, they would get a big burley center, just to have that option available, but I don't think it is vital for them.

 

We've shown we can use them to our advantage but I place no value in holding on to them before the draft.

Look at the 2024 draft, if wiki is right, not one single team had their original 2nd round pick before the night was over. They change hands all the time and are always bought the night of. Over the next 7 years: SA has 17 2nds. Wiz also with 17 2nds. Nets have 16 2nds. OKC also with 16. Magic with 12. Pistons have 11. If you want one... you can easily go buy one.

 

This is a lateral move, but just a random trade thought: Vando + Vincent + two seconds to Portland for Thybulle + Williams. Thybulle is a little closer to returning than Vando, and he is a better shooter. Their defense, arguably, is about equal to each other. Thybulle's deal is also a lot shorter than Vando's. A backup center is arguably a greater need than a backup point guard. Wood could be waived, and somebody like Fultz could be signed. Idk just a thought, but I'm a huge fan of Thybulle. A lot of banged-up/injury-prone players in this deal. If anything, we create more financial flexibility down the line.

 

Rockets/ Heat Brawl

 

Gotta love the "hold me back routine"