The Los Angeles Lakers made a trade over the weekend to acquire forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks.
Russell and Finney-Smith are the big names in the trade, and the Lakers are always going to keep tabs more on the picks they trade away, making Lewis the natural forgotten part of the deal. Lewis, the 40th pick from the Lakers in the 2023 NBA Draft, is only 22 years old, though, and has some intriguing tools.
The Nets are certainly not forgetting about Lewis, as he’ll have much more of an opportunity to develop on a team that is actively rebuilding. Lewis, meanwhile, leaves the team he grew up rooting for and starts a brand new chapter on the other side of the country.
After the deal was made official, Lewis took to Instagram to thank L.A. for his two years with the team:
Lewis, a 6-foot-7-inch wing, played 41 games with the Lakers over the last two seasons. He never got much run with the parent team, but he impressed at the G League level. So far this season, Lewis was averaging 18.4 points and 6.6 rebounds with the South Bay Lakers.
It’s unclear exactly how much he’ll play with the Nets or if he’ll spend some time in the G League there as well, but with the roster being what it is now, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get some legitimate NBA opportunity.
Rob Pelinka releases statement on Russell-Maxwell Lewis trade
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has been patiently waiting for a trade to improve the team for over a year now and finally struck on Sunday, sending Russell, Lewis and three future second round draft picks to the Nets for Finney-Smith and Milton.
Pelinka said he would take around 30 games to assess the team’s needs and he made this deal 31 games into the 2024-25 season with the team sitting in the Western Conference playoff mix at 18-13.
Acquiring a player like Finney-Smith will give the Lakers some added defensive toughness, although it is also hard to see Russell go considering how much success he had in his second stint with the team.
After the trade was announced, Pelinka released a statement thanking Russell while also talking about what Finney-Smith will bring to the team.
“We want to thank D’Angelo for his second stint with us, where we celebrated some great moments and accomplishments on the court together. We want to wish him and Maxwell Lewis well in their future endeavors with the Brooklyn Nets. With this trade, we are thrilled to add the physicality, toughness and elite shooting that Dorian Finney-Smith will bring to our core. We also greatly value the playmaking of Shake Milton. We are excited for our fans to get both of these players out on the court.”
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