The Lakers could be in for a bit of a bidding war this summer as Dorian Finney-Smith is reportedly drawing lots of attention heading into free agency.
While LeBron James’ looming decision has taken much of the attention for the Lakers heading into free agency, there’s another contract option to be decided that will also have a big impact on the Lakers’ offseason plans.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s arrival to Los Angeles was the beginning of an identity shift for head coach JJ Redick’s side that signaled what type of team they would be moving forward. He quickly earned the trust of Redick and was a mainstay in the rotation moving forward.
Like LeBron, he heads into the summer with a contract decision looming. Unlike LeBron, his future in Los Angeles is far less certain. According to NBA reporter Jake Fischer, DFS is drawing lots of interest around the league.
Two potential free agents generating a considerable amount of curiosity leaguewide as Monday night draws near, I’m told, are Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis Jr. and the Lakers’ Dorian Finney-Smith.
Both have player options (Portis at $13.4 million; Finney-Smith at $15.4 million that must be activated by Sunday’s deadline and which, if bypassed, will throw both players to the top of the midlevel market for frontcourt players.
The Lakers are still very much in the driver seat in these negotiations. The only team with cap room this summer are the Brooklyn Nets, who aren’t going to bring Finney-Smith back. That means the most a team can realistically offer him is the full mid-level exception, and gives the Lakers the exact idea of what contract he can get on the open market.
So, ultimately, this comes down to how much the Lakers want to keep him.
Our own Bryan Toporek broke down Finney-Smith’s options in free agency, including what an extension with the Lakers could look like:
The Lakers could try to convince Finney-Smith to decline his player option and sign a multi-year extension that begins at a lower salary. He’d lock in longer-term financial security while giving the Lakers more flexibility under the aprons. That could guarantee them access at least to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at the second apron, if not the $14.1 million non-taxpayer MLE, which would hard-cap them at the first apron.
Right now, that seems like the likeliest route for DFS to return to the Lakers. For the faults he may have, Finney-Smith is still a very good, reliable player. Perhaps most importantly, he’s also good friends with Luka Dončić, which may be the best bargaining chip he has.
With the decision date for his decision being Monday, we’ll quickly learn about what the Lakers offseason will look like.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.