The Los Angeles Lakers have traded veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for wing Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton.
In his place, the Lakers land Finney-Smith, a solid supporting wing who does just what the Lakers need.
Part of the reason the Nets traded Schroder in the first place was because his presence was winning them too many games.
The Nets traded a bounty of future picks from other teams to regain control of their own first-round picks in 2025 and 2026, so losing is the goal in Brooklyn right now.
Both the Nets and Lakers will likely continue exploring the market overall.
In exchange for wing Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton, the Los Angeles Lakers sent veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets. Russell’s turbulent second stint with the Lakers, which was characterized by persistent trade rumors as the team failed to duplicate the success of its 2023 run to the Western Conference finals, comes to an end with the agreement.
He is replaced by Finney-Smith, a reliable supporting wing who provides the Lakers with exactly what they need. Finney-Smith has made 43.5 percent of his 3-point attempts so far this season, despite his somewhat erratic 3-point shooting, and he was doing so against a Nets team that didn’t create many shots. His success with Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks may be replicated now that he has LeBron James to set him up from deep.
Finney-Smith is a long, strong 6-foot-7 wing on defense. He isn’t quite as fast as he was in his early career, but he should get along well with Max Christie, who is currently 7-2 as a starter this year. With James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves as the team’s main scorers, Christie and Finney-Smith make up a versatile supporting wings that are better suited to defending small guards. Christie isn’t quite as strong as Finney-Smith, though.
Russell, on the other hand, is returning to Brooklyn, where he was named an All-Star in 2019. He is expected to take Dennis Schroder’s place as the team’s veteran, stabilizing guard after Schroder was traded to the Golden State Warriors. But it’s unclear how long he will stay with the Nets. Schroder was winning too many games for the Nets, which was one of the reasons they traded him in the first place. Losing is the aim in Brooklyn at the moment because the Nets traded a plethora of future picks from other teams to regain control of their own first-round picks in 2025 and 2026. It’s too soon to tell where Russell fits into that, but the Nets will probably look into it if there is more interest in him on the trade market.
It is probable that both the Lakers and the Nets will keep looking into the market in general. In order to spell Davis while he is on the bench, the Lakers have been searching for a true backup center who could play some minutes with him. Other veterans, like Cam Johnson, are still available to the Nets and could yield substantial trade packages. However, for the time being, the agreement benefits both parties. While the Lakers move closer to contention, the Nets continue their rebuild.
