July 7: The Rockets have officially signed Finney-Smith, the team confirmed in a press release.
The deal is fully guaranteed for two seasons, with a non-guaranteed third year and a non-guaranteed fourth-year player option, per Scotto (Twitter link).
June 30: Free agent forward Dorian Finney-Smith is leaving the Lakers in order to sign a four-year, $53MM contract with the Rockets, sources tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The agreement includes a trade kicker and a mutual option (ie. a non-guaranteed player option) in year four, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Finney-Smith will likely be signed using Houston’s non-taxpayer mid-level exception. A full mid-level deal, starting at the maximum $14.1MM, would be worth $60.6MM, so the Rockets should still have a small portion of the exception left over after signing Finney-Smith, assuming the contract has a standard ascending structure.
Finney-Smith, who was traded from Brooklyn to Los Angeles last December, appeared in 43 games for the Lakers in 2024/25, making 20 starts. He averaged 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 28.8 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .442/.398/.714.
While his box-score numbers certainly don’t jump off the page, Finney-Smith’s midseason arrival helped fuel a defensive turnaround in L.A. and his reliable three-point shooting helped space the floor on offense.
His impact was reflected by his on/off-court numbers — no Lakers rotation player had a better regular season net rating than Finney–Smith’s +11.1 mark in 1,239 minutes. The club had a -3.5 mark in the 1,214 minutes he didn’t play after the trade.
In Houston, he’ll serve as the type of three-and-D wing the Rockets lost when they agreed to trade Dillon Brooks to Phoenix in the Kevin Durant blockbuster.
It’s a major loss for the Lakers, given the role Finney-Smith both on and off the court for the franchise. As Dan Woike of The Athletic tweets, the 32-year-old was a popular presence in the locker room and was well-liked by Luka Doncic. However, a four-year deal for Finney-Smith didn’t fit into L.A.’s long-term plans.
When lakers can’t offer him 4 yrs and 53 million u know they are screwed. They need a center but losing him it just creates another need. if Hames really was worried about rings he woulda gave up some cash to get both. Shows he wants that money more .. do t blame him but just don’t say it’s Al about another ring. That’s bulls**t
Bye Felicia.
You couldn’t hold his jock strap.
OKC has a lot of competition at the top next year and now add in Spurs improving.
There was plenty of competition the last two seasons. They’ll dominate the east and do ok in west and get #1 seed 3 straight years 😊 The Rockets are biggest threat now. Wemby need to stay healthy and the young guys need to
Play at a high level for them to be a threat.
Spurs need shooting and front court depth. Not sure next year is the year for them. Agreed on Houston though, think they need another ball handler though.
Man the Rockets are gonna be a problem.
All three Texas teams could be ascending.
Nobody wants to play with LeBron.
Next season is going to be hilarious.
Or Burger King Luka.
Rockets looking the goods.
Of course, all of this only works if KD (and FVV) is healthy for the playoffs.
Rockets will be the #1 seed in the west. If Indiana can figure out OKC the rest of the league will too. OKC is also a bad road team.
OKC went 32-8 on the road, 5-5 in the playoffs. You clearly don’t know the definition of bad 🤣🤣
I think DFS is perfect for what Houston is doing. Feels like a piece that fits just right.
Is he an upgrade over Brooks?
Even it is a push, isn’t the better question now “Is Durant better than Jalen Green?” Rockets are clearly upgrading and an improved team over last year’s #2 seed.
Definitely not… and much less at that price and for that long!!!
Indiana didn’t figure out the Thunder, as I recall the Pacers lost 4-3. If OKC is a bad road team with a league best and 5th best All-time 32-8 mark then everyone else most be truly atrocious.
Worst part for the rest of the league is that the MVP is just entering his prime and Williams, Wallace and Holmgren haven’t even played out their rookie deals.
People are really pretending this guy is good and worth a 4 year deal lol.
Rockets ain’t messing around. This is an excellent addition. They are coming for Thunder lols.
So are the Nuggets …….
Rockets are actually making some good moves. After some good progress last season their progress right now in the offseason for next season actually helps them so much