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The Los Angeles Lakers heated up the trade market on Sunday when they swung a deal to acquire Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton from the Brooklyn Nets for D'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks.
The Lakers were able to beat out a competitive offer from the Memphis Grizzlies, who had a package centered around sharpshooter Luke Kennard ready to go. In the end, the Nets opted to go with the Lakers' offer, and JJ Redick and company added a coveted 3-and-D wing on the perimeter as a result.
After the deal went down, many teams around the league were stunned that the Lakers were able to pull off this trade and that this was the direction that LA chose to go in, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
“The Lakers didn't just beat out the Grizzlies in the Finney-Smith race,” Stein wrote. “They surprised many league observers who, in recent days, were expecting the Lakers to chase after a different veteran twosome: Washington's Jonas Valančiūnas and Malcolm Brogdon. Finney-Smith obviously can't provide the bulk, screening, and frontcourt know-how that Valančiūnas offers, but he is a highly regarded multi-positional defender shooting a career-high 43.5% from 3-point range this season.”
Finney-Smith is only averaging 10.4 points per game this season, but he is shooting the 3 at a very efficient 43.5% clip on high volume at over five attempts per game.
Why Dorian Finney-Smith is a perfect fit for the Lakers
Finney-Smith is exactly what the Lakers needed on the trade market at both ends of the floor, and while this move may not raise the ceiling of the team to a true contender, it certainly gets them closer to the top of the Western Conference.
The Lakers have better shooting around LeBron James and Anthony Davis than they have had in past seasons, but they could still use an established sniper off the ball who can play around the team's two stars. Flipping Russell for Finney-Smith takes another ball handler out of the equation and replaces him with a guy who can play off the ball and won't require a ton of touches to make an impact on offense.
Finney-Smith is also a proven productive player in a playoff setting during his time with the Dallas Mavericks, so the Lakers will be thrilled to have him in the equation.
Defensively, Finney-Smith will arguably be the Lakers' best perimeter defender on the roster from the second he steps foot in the facility. That is probably the biggest weakness of this Lakers roster this season and has led to them having a very bad defense for long stretches this year. When they played against star perimeter players, they just had nobody who could stay in front of those guys and keep them out of the paint.
Finney-Smith isn't going to be mistaken for an All-Defense caliber defender, but he gives the Lakers a smart, experienced defender with good size that can guard both on and off the ball and that alone should immediately make them better on that end of the floor.
