The Rockets may be a prime candidate to secure the services of unrestricted free agent Dorian Finney-Smith, according to Mark Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (via Twitter), who say that Houston has emerged as a “viable landing spot” for the veteran forward.
Finney-Smith declined his $15.4MM player option on Sunday. Reporting at that time indicated that while there was still the possibility of returning to the Lakers, multiple other teams would be interested in the three-and-D specialist. It appears that the Rockets will be one of those teams.
Finney-Smith split time between the Nets and Lakers last season, averaging 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and nearly a steal per game while shooting 41.1% from three. His numbers dropped somewhat when he arrived in Los Angeles, though his on/off-court numbers were strong and he was reportedly a positive influence in the locker room.
The Rockets, who retained Steven Adams earlier in the summer, recently unlocked access to their $14.1 MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception by re-signing Fred VanVleet on a cheaper deal for more years, which they could use on Finney-Smith as they continue attempting to build out a championship-caliber roster following the acquisition of Kevin Durant.
Is this really happening? He was a big reason for Lakers’ success in 2nd half of his season. The Lakers already needed a 2nd wing defender in addition DFS.
Didn’t Lakers gave up their only available 2nd round picks to get him?
Yeah, it doesn’t make a lot of sense if he’s just going to take an MLE which is over $1M less than the option he just declined, unless he gets a multi-year contract.
No state tax in Texas. Dwight Howard…
Go Rockets!
I don’t see how unlocking the $14m mid level helps them sign DFS? He declined more than that and surely the Lakers will go higher. Supposedly he is happy in LA. So even if money is the same, he’s not going anywhere. Lakers at $18m a year. Also, Lakers can give him 5 year deal with 8% raises. Anyone else is 4 years and 5%.
I’m not sure now if those limits apply to max contracts only?
@ Aris….Oh the LeBron effect. That guy is gone after this season. LBJ been slowly but surely imploding this once great franchise. What will you do if the Lakers and Warriors suck at the same time? Do you follow football? Houston are seriously on the up.
aristotle is an expert on all teams. He is the living example of a bandwaggoner fan.
Exhibit C of aristotle speaking again from his behind.
Rockets making moves to replace the defence they lost when they dealt Brooks to the Suns. DFS may not be as good or young as Brooks was but hed fit in well with the system they have. Also, the less the Lakers have the better lol
I’ll be the guy jumping off the bandwagon of hatred but what did this Aristotle guy say that made everyone hate him all he said was DFS was a good player
It’s not like he said something like trade LeBron and junior to Miami or trade Giannis to LA
By my calculations if DFS bounces they can use the full MLE and have enough for 2 vet mins to get to 14 players ….. Yuck, less than 1 M space as well for a buffer (thanks LBJ)
DFS + the TPMLE is a much much better scenario for LAL. I still expect that in the end but these rumors cant be good for A) keeping his price point low as possible and B) ofc the flight risk is increased as well (least in my mind) which is a sizeable hit that really cant be understated if it does so happen tommorow
You see Rich Paul’s comments on LBJ cap & crunch?
Ring chasing supeteams again, lols. Yet has a no trade clause. One last kick in the gut maybe on the way. Then again he is just a narcissist attention seeker. LBJ wants to compete for rings, Lakers can’t do that apparently. Was only a week ago rings didn’t matter, lolz. Just retire. This man has played with more current or ex all stars than anyone, surely.
He also has played more seasons, minutes and scored more points than any player surely 🤣🤣
Oh the diet hey. What took him so long to equal MJs 30 point games? How many more 40 and 50 pieces does he need to catch MJ?
Yea the comments were dumb and unneeded but we see that a lot in all sports
I appreciate LBJ’s game as one of the most beautiful Ive ever seen so your not going to get me to start dog piling on him
What I will say is that the power pendulum (oddly) swung to the Lakers side now moving forward past this year. What they do with that power is on them….its in my hopes they wield it with a strong hand and any future relationship is solely dictated on their terms
We can NEVER truly repay LBJ for taking our team outta the dumpster and making it relevant……and we Shouldn’t try to either (business is cruel) .
Hopefully Walter gets all the feelies out the building this year and we get back to doing business based on business, its been awhile
And all his failed moves that ruined the team ala Westbrook. He’s not loved by Lakers fans.
There’s been good (DFS +Rui) and bad (RW) moves made
Robs report card isn’t as horrible as some might suggest but yea its not pretty
The problem has been we have been boxed into certain tight spaces w Clutch and LBJ for so many years its really just led to a yes man front office (I cant see that being good) The sale to Walter offers hope
I’m an LBJ hater but saying that he’s hated by lakers fans is completely false
He brought them AD and a championship, and AD is now Luka who’s going to be a laker for a long time
If LeBron never came to LA then the team would still look like the mid 2010s bad Kobe years with maybe Zion or lamelo as a laker
The Lakers will match what the rockets can offer l, the $15 mill a year. DFS just wanted a multi year deal.
He’s not getting that from another team. Lakers have to sign him. If they want to compete . Rockets have Eason, Whitmore. Don’t think they can afford him. If somehow they could do it. It’s major. Makes them real deep.
Nikiel A-Walker?