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The Lakers’ Trade That Changed Everything
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March 3, 2025 2 Comments
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From the above article:
No, we’re not talking about the deal that brought Luka Dončić to Los Angeles. Before the Lakers rattled the league with one of the most unexpected trades in history, they made another swap that is paying dividends.
Dorian Finney-Smith, already one of the NBA’s key role players, has become even more important nowadays, as the Lakers are using only one conventional center in their rotation.
Dončić is off to a slow start in L.A. James is on the other end of the spectrum, rediscovering his youth since missing a couple of games in December. Austin Reaves is extorting efficient 20-point games — sometimes better — two or three times a week. But how about that other guy, the one who comes off the bench and isn’t even taking six shots a game since the Lakers acquired him in December, yet has made all the difference?
Finney-Smith will make the extra pass from the corner. He’ll improvise a back screen for James, springing his teammate for a bucket down low. He pulled off one of these to create a couple of free throws for the future Hall of Famer during crunch time of Thursday’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two months ago, the Lakers needed an extra wing defender. Now, with Anthony Davis in Dallas, they could use physicality in the paint, on the perimeter, anywhere. Jaxson Hayes, an enthusiastic (sometimes too enthusiastic) jumper, starts at center. No conventional big man is behind him.
Lakers coach JJ Redick will use Finney-Smith alongside the four non-Hayes starters. He closed Thursday’s victory with a shrunken fivesome: Dončić, James, Reaves, Finney-Smith and point guard Gabe Vincent. In those moments, Finney-Smith is the team’s best hope for a stop — a helper on the wing and, at times, a stopper at the top of the offense.
After all, if a defense isn’t built to protect the rim, its best strategy is to prevent anyone from getting there.
Forget about the obvious on the play seen below from the Wolves game, in which Finney-Smith stifles All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards. Don’t worry about the footwork against a driving Edwards, the speed to keep up with him or the confrontation at the rim that bothers one of the league’s flashiest finishers. Instead, pay attention to what Finney-Smith does before Edwards even bounces the basketball.
As soon as Hayes alerts Finney-Smith to a screen on the way, the defender angles Edwards away from it. Edwards may shoot right-handed, but he loves to drive left. Hayes rises in front of him, a super play, as well. Finney-Smith recovers from the back side, and Edwards has nowhere to go.
If the Lakers want to make a deep playoff run, they will need plays like this regularly, especially when a center isn’t actually there.
They are 17.5 points per 100 possessions better with Finney-Smith on the court. Only the NBA’s perennial leader in this category, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić, bests him. Such a tiny group would present stylistic clashes with the double-big Thunder, Jokić’s Nuggets or during a primetime series against Davis and the healthy Mavericks. But for the Lakers to play into the spring, the small lineups have to carry them — and in the small lineups, Finney-Smith becomes the key.
While I love DLO, trading him also benefited the Lakers via addition by subtraction. Chemistry is much stronger and consistent now.