A trade involving the Lakers this season felt inevitable, as the team had a lot of obvious holes preventing them from looking like a real championship-caliber team. We got that deal today with Los Angeles acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three second round picks. Here are my immediate thoughts on the deal for both sides.
Los Angeles Lakers
A month ago, I wrote about how acquiring a defensive-minded wing would help the Lakers become contenders. They’re currently the 21st-ranked defense in the league, mainly because they don’t have the perimeter fortification needed alongside Anthony Davis to establish a formidable blockade. Dorian Finney-Smith helps solve that problem. He’s a premier wing stopper who can reliably guard star players night in and night out. Dunks & Threes’ popular impact metric EPM pegs Finney-Smith as an 83rd percentile defender this season. Come playoff time, the veteran forward can be trusted to cover guys like Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic and make their lives difficult. Offensively, Finney-Smith is a steady shooter who will capitalize on looks that LeBron James creates for him. He’s a career 38.5% corner-three marksman on a high volume.
Another area where the Lakers have struggled this season is rebounding, as they rank nearly dead last in both offensive and defensive boards per game. Finney-Smith is sneaky good on the offensive glass and he’s collecting o-boards at a higher rate this year than any non-center Laker. Overall, Dorian Finney-Smith is an excellent role player who will plug a lot of holes for LA, making this a great pickup.
Shake Milton, while not one of the big names in this trade, is another guy who can really help the Lakers. His quality catch-and-shoot ability (38.5% on C&S threes this season) will be a nice boost to what is a poor shooting team. Milton can get buckets at all three levels and heat up in a hurry, as emphasized by his 14-point fourth quarter outing against the Bucks on December 26th. He is also a capable defender and overall should be able to do most of what Gabe Vincent was expected to do in the City of Angels.
In order to get Finney-Smith and Milton, LA did have to give up the best player in the deal, D’Angelo Russell. This is sort of an addition by subtraction move, as Russell just wasn’t a good fit for how the Lakers want to do things. Finney-Smith and Milton are both guys who can succeed in smaller roles, unlike Russell, who needs the ball in his hands to be effective. However, the team will definitely miss Russell’s creation prowess, and his departure means 40-year-old LeBron will now be shouldering an even bigger load offensively which is not ideal. That fact, and the sacrifice of three draft picks, make this trade a little sketchy for Los Angeles, but ultimately they are getting two good players who can help them get better.
Brooklyn Nets
After trading Dennis Schroder a couple weeks ago, the Brooklyn fire sale continues with Dorian Finney-Smith heading out the door for draft capital. This trade is exactly the type of move rebuilding teams should make, as those draft picks will be more valuable to the franchise’s future than the role player in his prime. Therefore, that’s the main part of this deal that matters. D’Angelo Russell is still an immensely talented player who may be able to rebuild his value in a low pressure situation before entering free agency this coming summer. Maxwell Lewis is a former second round pick who never got a real chance with the Lakers. At just 22 years old, he may be able to realize some of his 3&D potential for the Nets in the long run. As a whole, this is smart GMing for Brooklyn and they will likely make more trades like this one leading up to the deadline.
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