Season Review: Dorian Finney-Smith

This season, Dorian Finney-Smith was exactly the 3-and-D wing the Lakers have needed for years.

Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we continue with a look at Dorian Finney-Smith.

When the Lakers traded D’Angelo Russell for DFS, it wasn’t just about acquiring a better player than D’Lo. The deal was intended to bring in a 3-and-D wing to address a need the roster had been desperately lacking.

From the jump, DFS fit like a glove in head coach JJ Redick’s system. He raised the standard for the team’s perimeter defense, was a knockdown shooter and excelled in the intangibles.

Whether that meant being elite on rotations, closeouts, or pindowns, DFS was always seen making a positive impact for the Lakers.

It’s hard for statistics to reflect the kind of difference Finnney-Smith makes, but plus-minus does a pretty good job of it. DFS was a +268 on the season for the Lakers, the best plus-minus on the team by far.

Counting stats don’t show everything that DFS did for the Lakers this season, but it was clear he was a trusted and reliable contributor by season’s end.

How did he play?

If there was any skepticism in the D’Lo for DFS trade, Finney-Smith threw cold water on it right away. His first 20 games as a Laker were magnificent. The team went 13-7 and he was already a plus-minus wizard, leading the team in that category.

During this stretch, DFS had one of his best games of the season. He scored 15 points in the Lakers’ 128-112 win over the Knicks on Feb. 1. With Anthony Davis out, the Lakers were still able to beat one of the best teams in the NBA on the road and DFS was a big reason why.

What was one of the more impressive wins of the season was quickly forgotten, however as this day became an infamous one in NBA history. Within hours of the game finishing, it was reported that the Lakers traded Anthony Davis to the Mavericks for Luka Dončić.

The trade was a shock and changed the trajectory of both franchises.

From the DFS perspective, it reunited him with one of his best teammates ever and their chemistry picked right back up where it left off. They had a camaraderie that was easily visible both on and off the court. As a duo, they worked well on the perimeter and were +191 on the season.

On the season, Finney-Smith averaged 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists on the season. He also shot 39.8% from 3-point range, making him the best outside shooter in L.A. behind Rui Hachimura.

While his offense was appreciated and necessary, his defensive prowess stood out most. With AD gone and bigs absent, DFS was able to defend all positions and the Lakers relied on him to do so.

In the Lakers’ short playoff stint, his numbers took a dip. The versatile wing averaged just 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

The Wolves had simply too much size for DFS to handle defending bigs. His 3-point shot was still generally there, but he had bad shooting nights like Game 1, where he went 1-5 from the field.

He was still one of the better players for the Lakers and earned the starting role during the second half of Game 4 and kept it for Game 5.

However, it wasn’t enough to win Los Angeles any remaining games, as Minnesota ended their season in five games.

Overall, DFS is a quality role player and exactly the type of player every NBA team needs, but he’s more of a floor raiser than a ceiling riser.

What is his contract situation moving forward?

DFS has a player option for next year at $15.4 million. During his exit interview, he said he hadn’t thought about what he would do in the offseason. Well, the time is ticking as June is fast approaching, and he has to decide whether to opt in or not.

While he has not stated which way he is leaning, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report seems to think he will return to the Lakers.

Should he be back?

Finney-Smith is one of the best shooters and defenders on this team. He should absolutely be back next year and if he’s not, it creates another hole the front office would need to fill. And considering they are over the salary cap, losing him for nothing would not open up cap room to sign a replacement, either.

Unless the DFS opts out and the price for his services is beyond what the Lakers can afford, he should be back next year.

When you factor in his elite 3-point shooting, his defensive prowess, his chemistry with your bright young star and his plus-minus numbers, bringing back DFS should be a no-brainer.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.