{"id":716076,"date":"2026-04-22T19:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716076\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:09:27","slug":"lakers-look-better-for-letting-dorian-finney-smith-go-as-wing-is-a-playoff-non-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716076\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers look better for letting Dorian Finney-Smith go as wing is a playoff non-factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember when the world felt like it was ending last offseason, as the Los Angeles Lakers let Dorian Finney-Smith walk to the Rockets in free agency? You’d think they’d have let LeBron James go, or, even worse, Luka Don\u010di\u0107. As much as it would’ve made sense for LA to keep DFS, the organization couldn’t look any better<\/a> than it has for not re-signing him. <\/p>\n

If you had said before the season started that the Lakers would be up 2-0 on the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, most people probably wouldn’t have believed you. If you had said that they’d be up 2-0, and that a healthy Finney-Smith logged zero minutes in those two games, an even smaller number of people would’ve believed you. <\/p>\n

Well, that’s the situation DFS is in: he’s watched his old team dominate his new team from the sideline, all without Don\u010di\u0107 and Reaves. You might’ve even forgotten that he was in Houston, as that’s how bad it’s been. <\/p>\n

Dorian Finney-Smith has been a complete non-factor for Rockets<\/p>\n

Los Angeles wanted to create as much future financial flexibility as possible for the coming offseason and 2027, so it let one of Don\u010di\u0107’s teammates from his Dallas days go. <\/p>\n

When reports about the structure of Finney-Smith’s contract with the Rockets first surfaced, the Lakers caught even more criticism for not re-signing him, as only the first two years of his four-year, $53 million deal with Houston are guaranteed. Surely, LA could’ve structured his contract similarly, right? <\/p>\n

Look, Rob Pelinka and the front office had no idea that DFS would have the kind of season he is having with the Rockets. You can say that, at the time, it would’ve made sense to retain him, while also acknowledging that it’s a great thing they didn’t. <\/p>\n

Maybe Finney-Smith would’ve benefitted from staying in purple and gold, but he’s had such a drop-off that it’s hard to argue it would’ve made that much of a difference, especially with the ankle surgery he had in the offseason. The Lakers wouldn’t have been able to escape the lingering effects of that. <\/p>\n

He didn’t make his regular-season debut<\/a> until Christmas, averaging only 3.3 points on 33.3% shooting from the field and 27% from three in 16.8 minutes per contest. Finney-Smith has been far from the 3-and-D option that Houston needed to round out what it thought was a championship-caliber roster. <\/p>\n

As enjoyable as it is to see Los Angeles head to Houston for Games 3 and 4 with the upperhand, fans shouldn’t take any satisfaction in Finney-Smith’s struggles. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be grateful that he decided to head to Texas, though. Hopefully, for his sake, his health won’t get in the way of him turning things around (at least a little bit) next season. <\/p>\n

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