Sunday afternoon, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Los Angeles Lakers have shipped D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for the second time in his career. Coming back in the deal are forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton. Los Angeles sweetened the pot by sending three -second round draft picks and second-year player Maxwell Lewis in addition to Russell.
Making 10 starts in 29 games, he averaged 12.4 points and 4.7 assists while shooting 41.5% from the field. Across the board, his numbers are the lowest they have been since he returned to the Lakers in a trade with the Timberwolves during the 2022-23 season. He is scoring the fewest points of his career, while his three-point percentage (33.3%) is the worst since third season, his first as a Net. His assists per game have not dipped to this modest a figure since his rookie campaign.
In Finney-Smith, the Lakers get a defense-first wing who is knocking down threes at a career-best rate–43.5%. For Brooklyn, he contributed 10.4 PPG and 4.5 RPG. Milton, also a capable outside shooter, was scoring 7.4 PPG in a reserve role. The sophomore Lewis has only appeared in 7 games.
Russell has been the topic of trade talks since what feels like the minute he arrived from Minnesota. How does his departure reshape the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis?
What the Los Angeles Lakers Were Missing
Considering the three draft picks expended to obtain a player who will likely come off the bench, one could argue that GM Rob Pelinka got the butt-end of a classic sell-high, buy-low exchange.
Fan responses on X expressed a mix of sarcasm, tentative approval, and glee that the polarizing guard is gone. Many joked that the move has transformed the team into title contenders.
From the perspective of fans, it is easy to understand why the trade is hard to get excited about for those who do not identify as D-Lo haters. It isn’t a flashy maneuver, and now the franchise is down three potential faces of the future, albeit no first-rounders. Finney-Smith really does not have a place in the starting lineup even if J.J. Redick decides to replace Max Christie. In that case, Dalton Knecht (10.4 PPG, 46.7 FG%) would most likely be promoted to fill the spot of shooting guard.
And that’s ok. In addition to point guard and fan-favorite Austin Reaves, Reddick still has four guards to work with in Christie, Knecht, Gabe Vincent, and now Milton. What his bench unit lacks is size. At 6’6”, 215 lbs, Knecht can play small forward as well, but he isn’t equipped to match up with opposing bigs. Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko remain the only standard reserve options at center. Hayes has been out injured since late November and appeared in just 11 games. Koloko is posting averages of 1.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9 minutes per game and his playing time has not increased despite the injuries.
Though getting closer to health, Christian Wood, who has been pushed around at times and fits better as a power forward, has been out all season, as has forward Jarred Vanderbilt.
New Options for Redick
The Lakers do have the ability to stagger Davis, James, and forward Rui Hachimura, but this is a vulnerable arrangement. Davis, who during the Christmas game but returned against Sacramento on Saturday, has a well-chronicled injury history. LeBron dropped 31 on Christmas after several games’ absence, only to miss the Kings game. Now that he has recanted on his pre-season goal to play all 82 games, the Lakers have pivoted to an earnest load management plan.
This is not to say that Finney-Smith is a savior in this department. Listed at 6’7” and 220 lbs, he is very small for a center, but the Nets have deployed him there anyway due to his physicality. How much time Redick gives him at the five remains to be seen. In theory, he can keep using the rotations he has been and just wait Hayes to get healthy while using DFS in his natural position at forward. With Davis off the court, though, he should try his newest option on bigger players to give LeBron’s legs a rest.
Even if he doesn’t, until Hayes comes back, the Lakers’ bench is so badly in need of size that small forward Cam Reddish has the largest stature of any player in the regular rotation. Finney-Smith will help with that.
So Long, D’Angelo
The fact of the matter is the Finney-Smith is a much better fit for the Lakers’ needs. Plus, getting off of Russell’s contract might be just as good as an additional rotation piece. The move will save them $15 million in luxury tax and push them $3.5 million below the second-apron, opening up trade options.
In 2017, after the second overall pick out of Ohio State spent his first two seasons in LA, they put him on a flight to Brooklyn in exchange for Brook Lopez and Timofey Mozgov. 2018-2019 saw him put up 21.1 PPG and a career-best 7.0 APG. After being pushed to the bench in November–a juggling act between starter and sixth man has been a recurring theme the past two years–he should take the starting spot vacated by Dennis Schroeder when Brooklyn traded him to the Warriors.
The Nets are 12-20 and the front office is not concerned with making the playoffs. With less than the Hollywood-level pressure that comes with being a Laker and a teammate of LeBron James, and with fewer ambivalent fans and twitter trolls swinging from love to hate on a game-by-game basis, maybe D-Lo can reignite his game.
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