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. The deal ends Russell’s tumultuous second tenure with the Lakers, which has been defined by constant trade rumors as the team has struggled to replicate the success of its 2023 trip to the Western Conference finals.
In his place, the Lakers land Finney-Smith, a solid supporting wing who does just what the Lakers need. Though his 3-point shooting is somewhat inconsistent, Finney-Smith is making 43.5% of his triples thus far this season, and he was doing that on a Nets team with pretty limited shot-creation. Now he’ll have LeBron James to set him up from deep, potentially recreating the success he had with Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks.
Defensively, Finney-Smith is a long and sturdy 6-foot-7 wing. While not quite as quick as he was earlier in his career, he should form a nice pairing with Max Christie, who is now 7-2 as a starter this season. Christie isn’t quite as strong as Finney-Smith, but he’s better suited to defending small guards, and now that his shooting has stabilized, the two figure to form a versatile duo of supporting wings with James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves serving as the team’s primary scorers.
Russell, meanwhile, returns to Brooklyn, where he was an All-Star in 2019 and figures to replace Dennis Schroder, who was traded to the Golden State Warriors, as the stabilizing, veteran guard in their lineup. How long he will stick with the Nets, however, remains to be seen. 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. Where Russell fits into that, it’s too early to say, but if there is further interest in him on the trade market, the Nets are likely to explore it.
Both the Nets and Lakers will likely continue exploring the market overall. The Lakers have been looking for a true backup center to potentially play some minutes with Davis, but mostly to spell him while he rests. The Nets still have other veterans who could return sizable trade packages, most notably Cam Johnson. For now, though, the deal makes sense for both sides. The Nets continue their rebuild while the Lakers take a step towards contention.
