{"id":554881,"date":"2026-01-23T06:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554881\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T06:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:04:26","slug":"rockets-gauging-dorian-finney-smiths-trade-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554881\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets Gauging Dorian Finney-Smith’s Trade Value?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston is exploring the trade market in search of a potential backcourt upgrade, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints<\/a>, who hears from sources that the Rockets have looked into what sort of return they could get for forward Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> and second-round draft capital.<\/p>\n

\"\"A veteran three-and-D wing who signed with Houston last summer, Finney-Smith missed the first two months of the season while recovering from left ankle surgery. Since making his debut on Christmas Day, the 32-year-old has played a very limited role, logging between 13 and 18 minutes in each of his first 12 outings.<\/p>\n

Finney-Smith has averaged just 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per night so far as a Rocket, and he\u2019s earning $12.7MM this season, with a guaranteed $13.3MM salary for 2026\/27 \u2014 he\u2019s under contract through 2028\/29, but the final two years of his deal are non-guaranteed.<\/p>\n

As a result, Finney-Smith\u2019s value on the trade market will likely be pretty limited, though it\u2019s worth noting that his overall impact isn\u2019t always reflected by his counting stats. While it\u2019s a small sample, Houston has a +9.5 net rating<\/a> and a 102.1 defensive rating during his 186 minutes on the court.<\/p>\n

Jose Alvarado<\/a> of the Pelicans and Scotty Pippen Jr.<\/a> of the Grizzlies are among the guards whom league personnel have identified as possible trade targets for Houston, per ClutchPoints. Siegel also mentions Bulls guards Coby White<\/a> and Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> as potential players of interest for the Rockets, though it would take more than Finney-Smith and second-round picks to acquire either one.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies haven\u2019t given any indication they want to move Pippen, Siegel acknowledges. Additionally, any deal involving Pippen and Finney-Smith would require more outgoing salary from Memphis\u2019 side, since the Grizzlies guard is earning just $2.3MM.<\/p>\n

Alvarado, meanwhile, is considered the Pelican who is most likely to be dealt and has generated interest from multiple teams, including the Knicks and Pistons, Siegel writes. Atlanta<\/a> and Indiana<\/a> were also linked to Alvarado earlier this season.<\/p>\n

Like Pippen, Alvarado has a relatively small cap hit ($4.5MM), so unless more pieces are added, a deal sending Finney-Smith to New Orleans wouldn\u2019t be practical for the Pelicans, who are operating just $2MM below the luxury tax line. They don\u2019t want to surpass that threshold or take back long-term money in a trade, per Siegel.<\/p>\n

As the Rockets consider their options on the trade market, they\u2019re not looking to trade veteran point guard Fred VanVleet<\/a>, who is recovering from a torn ACL, and they\u2019re also unlikely to make a move that would reduce Reed Sheppard<\/a>\u2018s role, Siegel adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston is exploring the trade market in search of a potential backcourt upgrade, according to Brett Siegel of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[4102,7,963,374,866,11053,1081,627],"class_list":{"0":"post-554881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-ayo-dosunmu","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-coby-white","11":"tag-dorian-finney-smith","12":"tag-fred-vanvleet","13":"tag-jose-alvarado","14":"tag-reed-sheppard","15":"tag-scotty-pippen-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115942908498706823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}