The Lakers‘ acquisition of Luka Doncic in the three-team blockbuster with the Mavericks and Jazz could improve their odds of retaining veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Scotto previously reported that Finney-Smith was expected to decline his $15.4MM option for next season in order to enter unrestricted free agency. Doncic and Finney-Smith, who was acquired from the Nets this season, are close friends. Doncic will undoubtedly lobby the Lakers’ front office to retain Finney-Smith, Scotto notes.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- The Mavericks‘ acquisition of young guard Max Christie along with Anthony Davis in the trade could impact Quentin Grimes‘ status with the organization. Grimes, who reportedly declined a three-year rookie scale extension offer prior to the October deadline, has become a key contributor, averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 40.7% from beyond the arc. He’ll become eligible for restricted free agency this summer, while Christie is signed through 2027/28, including a player option.
- Prior to adding current injured Maxi Kleber to the Doncic deal, the Mavericks held exploratory talks involving Kleber with the Pacers. Dallas had its eyes on power forward Obi Toppin. Kleber is signed through the 2025/26 season and if he’s not dealt again prior to Thursday’s deadline, he’ll become a more valuable trade asset for the Lakers in the offseason when he’ll have an expiring $11MM contract.
- The Jazz, who facilitated the Doncic/Davis trade, are expected to remain active ahead of the trade deadline. Utah is looking to flip veteran forward P.J. Tucker, who was acquired from the Clippers on Saturday, for another team’s salary dump to land more future draft assets. Tucker will be bought out of his $11.54MM contract if he’s not traded. John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, and Collin Sexton have all come up in trade discussions. Walker Kessler has also drawn interest but the Jazz’s high price tag makes it unlikely he’ll be dealt this week.
Lakers should offer Dalton and 2031 First for Kessler
Cost saving
Compare to acquire Ayton
They literally gave that pick (and only that one) for Luka lol
I get it numbers are hard to understand 2029…. 2031 lmaooooo
chyl8888
dalton and 3 picks 1st
Grimes to the Knicks~~
How do you trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, and a 1st round pick that lost all its value by having Luka on the Lakers. I really hope Adam Silver and the NBA didn’t quietly do this. Ratings are terrible which is horrific for their transition to streaming. Luka is no question a Top 5 player in the league. He doesn’t become the face of the league wearing a Dallas jersey. He becomes an instant icon wearing a Lakers jersey, and an icon that can be marketed worldwide. Perfect for their International plans.
At 26, Luka already has 5 1st Team All-NBA selections under his belt. “Conditioning” issues is why Dallas says they don’t want to max Luka, but then take an injury-prone Anthony Davis in essentially a straight up deal. Davis is already on a max, and will soon be eligible to sign another one, which was likely agreed to “in the shadows”.
Rudy Gobert fetched 4 1st rounders, Walker Kessler and Malik Beasley. Mikal Bridges fetched 5 1st rounders. This is all you can get for Luka Doncic??? You decide to trade Luka and don’t seek the biggest haul possible to set you up for now and the future??? You decide to take a minimal package from the Los Angeles Lakers for Luka Doncic while essentially only negotiating with them. You don’t trade the next face of the NBA for an aging post player with poor injury history. Just no way Dallas decided that this was the “best” option to move forward with the franchise. “Conditioning” issues didn’t keep Luka from taking Dallas to the Finals last year, and to the Western Conference Finals before that. A proven Playoff Assassin. You take a minimal deal???
Bingo someone who gets it. The problem isn’t trading Luka it’s trading him for such a weak return. Well said man
First time I’ll agree with VB on something. This is really, truly a bad return for the Mavs, springing from bad process. AD is a fantastic player, and he does provide the defense Harrison says he wants. But this isn’t a good enough return for a generational superstar who has yet to hit his prime years (generally 27-29). Doncic is a game-changer. He’s one of only a tiny, tiny handful of players to make a heliocentric offense *work*, and the Mavs were doing a good job of changing the team to give him more off-ball opportunities; this year Doncic more than doubled his percentage of assisted baskets without diluting his game.
And yeah, AD has the same level of injury issues as Doncic, if not more so, and he’s also older, so he’ll get *worse* in that regard over time. There’s no potential improvement through conditioning or whatever like there is with Doncic. Availability clearly swings in the younger man’s favor.
And then Doncic is clearly the better, more valuable player too. Getting Christie doesn’t move that needle, and he also impacts the playing time of multiple guys on your roster already.
You had to get a Donovan Mitchell return *minimum* for this kind of deal. A guy who can play at an All-Star or better level, a guy who can replicate a lesser version of what you gave up, and a *crapload* of draft capital. Or change it around so the draft capital becomes player capital. I don’t think this manages that kind of deal. I get that the Mavs remain competitive, they have a clear core and direction. But that’s all stuff they already had a *better version of* before this trade.
Truly looks like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic than doing anything of substance.
I just can’t understand them not getting the 2031 first and swaps too. Even then it feels light. The whole reason those Lakers firsts were so valuable is because LeBron will be retired and AD was going to be long past prime. But now 2031 Luka will be the age AD is now…
Grimes will be a future Bull soon. I like his potential but obviously the salaries need to work out.
The Mavericks return is horrible in terms of picks compensation. If they think they’re going to contend with Kai and AD who one is injury prone, and the other is disgruntled based on his mercury retrograde not aligned then Nico is a fool. The problem is the Lakers didn’t have their own picks outside of 2027 and 2029 and eventual 2031. I smell collusion. If you started a bidding war at worst, you’ll get 4-6 first rounders from a team, but they were looking to add value for value and not value for potential I guess. Just insane trade, I’m still trying to process this as a NBA fan and also future Lakers/Mavs perspective.