The Los Angeles Lakers, with their need of a starting-caliber power forward still clawing at them, could only sit back and watch as a trade between the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks went down Tuesday evening.
The Hornets, who acquired forward Dorian Finney-Smith, a former teammate of Luka Doncic, for three second round picks from the Houston Rockets earlier this offseason, agreed to send the veteran swingman to the Hornets in exchange for Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard and cash considerations. Immediately, some Lakers fans may have asked themselves, only that much was needed for Finney-Smith? The Lakers traded for Finney-Smith two seasons ago, and it didn’t quite work out the way both sides expected, but given the team’s need for a proven forward, trying a reunion with Finney-Smith, to some, was far from a bad move.
Lakers Criticized for Not Pursuing Reunion With Finney-Smith
Twenty-one months ago, the Lakers acquired Finney-Smith in a trade that sent D’Angelo Russell back to the Brooklyn Nets. Finney-Smith had his moments in L.A., but he looked far from the contributor he was next to Doncic when both players were in Dallas. But Lake Show Life’s Maxwell Ogden believes a reunion was worth pursuing because it could have at least provided a path for the Lakers to get rid of Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract.
“At his best, Finney-Smith is simply a more ideal fit with the Lakers than Vanderbilt,” Ogden wrote. “Both are on-ball defensive specialists who excel in that capacity, but the difference between them is simple: Finney-Smith is a respectable three-point shooter and Vanderbilt is a non-shooter. As such, there’s reason to believe that the Lakers should’ve jumped at the opportunity to swap Vanderbilt for Finney-Smith and the non-guaranteed salary he has for the 2027-28 season.”
And even though things didn’t end well when Finney-Smith was in L.A., Ogden laid out why the Lakers should have given the 33-year-old another opportunity.
“As a high-level on-ball defender at 6’7″ and 220 pounds with a near 7’0″ wingspan, Finney-Smith could’ve rounded the Lakers’ defense out,” Ogden wrote. “As a proven catch-and-shoot option who knows how to complement Doncic, he could’ve even auditioned for a longer tenure in Los Angeles. Most importantly: Even if he struggled, the Lakers could’ve walked away in 2027. Instead, Vanderbilt and his player option are still on the books, and the starting (lineup) still needs a final player.”
Did Something Happen Between L.A. and Finney-Smith?
Here’s what didn’t happen: Doncic and Finney Smith winning more than one playoff game together. Now, no one ever mistook those two for Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but Doncic and Finney-Smith were at the center of multiple playoff series wins in Dallas.
After Finney-Smith signed with the Rockets as a free agent in 2025, perhaps some things went down that neither the Lakers nor Finney-Smith would want to talk about today. There was supposedly some friction that built up between both sides, according to Lakers insider Jovan Buha.
“I think the ship has sailed with DFS and the Lakers organization,” Buha said. “I think there was some real bad blood last summer, with how the entire situation was handled, in terms of some of the intel that leaked out, and some things with DFS’s health and injury track record. I will be pretty surprised if he and his team are willing to look past that.”
Welp. Finney-Smith is now a Hornet. The Lakers’ power forward situation, meanwhile, is still uncertain.
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