The Los Angeles Lakers appear to have finally made a trade with reports indicating that they have acquired Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton from the Brooklyn Nets for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks.
Finney-Smith is a player the Lakers have had interest in for a while as a 3-and-D wing with size. He should bring a level of defensive toughness to L.A. that the team had previously lacked.
One person who has to be happy about this trade is Lakers head coach JJ Redick, who was a teammate of Finney-Smith’s for a bit on the Dallas Mavericks during the 2020-21 season. When speaking about Finney-Smith on his podcast during that time, Redick expressed how big of a fan he is.
“The one guy I just gotta shout out because I love watching him play and I’ve played against him now for a few years and he does so many things that just don’t show up in the box score and that’s Dorian Finney-Smith, as he’s affectionately known as ‘Dodo.’ Dodo, he’s just an awesome player. He’s a player that can fit on any team in the NBA. I think he’s incredibly valuable,” Redick said. “Great defender, hustles, makes all the plays. He had a block last night, we had some miscommunication in transition and I think it was a six-point game or eight-point game in the fourth and Khris Middleton came down the middle of the lane and Dodo came out of nowhere and blocked the shot. They originally called it a foul, we got a challenge on it, it was obviously a clean block when you saw it on replay, so we got the jump ball. Then from there, we just controlled the rest of the game and pulled away, it was a huge play and he makes plays like that all the time.”
Redick would also give Finney-Smith a shoutout on social media in 2022:
How can u not love DFS.
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) May 8, 2022
It will be interesting to see if Redick decides to start Finney-Smith or bring him off the bench, but regardless, the Lakers now have another versatile defender to add to the mix, as well as a backup point guard that can shoot it with Milton.
JJ Redick spoke about possibility of Lakers making trade
A couple days before the Lakers finally made a deal, JJ Redick spoke about the possibility and the confidence he had in his team regardless.
“Rob and I talk all the time, but my focus is on coaching this group and trying to maximize this group,” Redick said after Lakers practice on Friday. “Frankly, I have belief that when this group is healthy, we can compete. If there’s a move to be made, there’s a move to be made. But I’m focused on this group.”
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