With free agency now hours away, the Lakers may be close to losing Dorian Finney-Smith this offseason.
The Lakers may be set to lose one of their key rotation players at the start of free agency.
Dorian Finney-Smith opted out of his contract on Sunday and appears set to leave Los Angeles entirely this summer. According to Dan Woike of The Athletic, the Lakers are preparing to lose Finney-Smith this offseason with the Rockets the likely destination.
The Lakers are bracing to lose forward Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency to a multi-year deal with the Houston Rockets, according to team sources.
The loss of a valuable wing like Finney-Smith — and a beloved teammate of Dončić — will create a void on the perimeter, but his exit will open up a pathway for the Lakers to be aggressive targeting the top available centers in the free agency.
This is a blow in many ways for the Lakers, who had a lot of interest in retaining DFS. First, he was one of the few players that head coach JJ Redick had trust in during the postseason. Secondly, the Lakers did give up some assets for him during the season. While trading D’Angelo Russell and Maxwell Lewis wasn’t much of a loss, they included three second round picks in the deal.
If you want to take a glass-half-full approach, this does open up the opportunity for the Lakers to use the full mid-level exception. It does make it easier to chase a center on the open market, which is a greater need as things stand.
But it’s hard to spin this as a positive. Finney-Smith was a valuable wing who had great chemistry on and off the court with Luka Dončić and a history of playing alongside superstars. Defensively, he was valuable to the Lakers’ small ball strategy and was versatile.
Without him, the Lakers will definitely have a hole on the wing that’ll need to be filled. It’d be a softer blow if they use the MLE to sign a center but it adds more pressure for the Lakers to get things right this summer.
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