The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets agreed on a deal earlier today, sending Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Lakers for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three second-round picks.
This is the second major mid-season trade of the 24-25 campaign, with the Lakers getting this deal done just before the new year to add major reinforcements to their roster.
This deal was straightforward with both teams getting two players with the Nets getting three second-round picks to make up for the value deficit. But who won this deal? Let’s analyze and find out.
Los Angeles Lakers
Lakers Receive: Dorian Finney-Smith, Shake Milton
Grade: A
This deal can’t be looked at as anything but a win for the Lakers. Fans and critics have been begging the Lakers to stop hoarding their future assets and try to go all-in on the final years of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Despite their unspectacular roster, the Lakers have gone 18-13 to open the season and currently sit No. 5 in the West. This is a playoff-caliber franchise that just added two rotational players.
Finney-Smith is averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds this season, shooting 43.5% from three. He comes into the Lakers as the team’s best shooter while potentially being their second-best defender behind Anthony Davis. He’s been a career-long rotational player and proved his winning impact over the first few years of Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks tenure, playing a crucial role in leading the franchise to the Western Conference Finals in 2022.
Milton is averaging 7.4 points this season but has put up 12.6 points and 3.8 assists in the last five games after Dennis Schroder’s departure opened up more minutes for him on the Nets. He’s a two-way guard who won’t have the offensive peaks that Russell brings but could contribute defensively and could be incredibly useful in the Lakers guard rotation behind Gabe Vincent.
Giving up three second-round picks isn’t a big deal in this trade. The Warriors gave the same to land Schroder, who was more productive in Brooklyn but joined a Warriors team with other available guards as well. Finney-Smith fills a bigger need and won’t need to be forced into the starting five as his presence will be needed in the frontcourt. The Denver Nuggets gave up three second-rounders in the summer to salary dump Reggie Jackson, so the pick return shouldn’t be a sore spot for LA.
This is a win all around for the Lakers, with even JJ Redick having been a big fan of Finney-Smith for years, who is a former teammate. This partnership should be fruitful, as long as people don’t overreact when the 31-year-old forward has a shooting slump.
Brooklyn Nets
Nets Receive: D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, 2025 Second-Round Pick (LAL), 2030 Second-Round Pick (LAL), 2031 Second-Round Pick (LAL)
Grade: B
The Brooklyn Nets needed to move off their win-now veterans as their tanking season has been better than expected, with the franchise having a 12-20 record. They need to get worse and quickly to ensure they have a shot at landing Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, or Ace Bailey after their surprisingly good start to the season.
D’Angelo Russell returns to the team he once was an All-Star for in a down season where he’s averaging 12.4 points and 4.7 assists. Russell is on an expiring $18 million contract, so this also adds more cap space for the franchise this summer if they choose to let him walk. It could be a great situation for Russell, who gets to have a green light on a tanking franchise to rehabilitate his value before entering the market in the summer.
Maxwell Lewis was a 2022 second-round pick by the Lakers who hasn’t been able to crack into the team’s rotation due to his inconsistent offensive abilities. However, Lewis was a high-potential low-floor prospect, so the Nets have a solid shot at building up his value before potentially trading him in the future or making him a long-term member of their rebuild.
The reason this is a better deal for the Lakers than the Nets is purely in the return the franchises got. The grade could improve for the Nets if this deal makes them bad enough to secure a top-three pick in the 2025 Draft but the players and picks themselves don’t seem to be great. Maybe if Brooklyn held onto Dorian until February, some team could panic and offer them a first-round pick for his services.
In addition, the Memphis Grizzlies had put a lottery-protected first-round pick on the table, but their insistence that Brooklyn send them their second-round pick from this season killed the hopes of a deal. That’s fine, as the Lakers offer is better because it might have no long-term adverse effects on the franchise. It’s just that, it doesn’t look like this deal is inherently positive from an assets POV unless they can tank far enough.
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