Culture-Setting Finney-Smith Propping Up Trade Value For Inspired Nets

Wendell Cruz—Imagn Images

The ticking sound you heard on Friday night was the meter showing the rising trade price for Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith after he locked up Boston All-Star Jayson Tatum in a one-on-one situation during the first quarter of the host Celtics’ 108-104 overtime victory.

If any Nets player has set the tone for their unexpected level of competitiveness over their first ten games of the 2024-25 season, it’s Finney-Smith. He is a prime example of a culture-setter, a player who inspires his younger teammates on how to play pro basketball with maximum effort and diligence.

In as a tough a back-to-back as any team will find, the Nets (4-6) nearly took a pair of road games at Boston and Cleveland, dropping a 105-100 decision to the undefeated Cavs on Saturday. Finney-Smith, 31, played a combined 60 minutes over the two games; the Nets posted a plus-9.8 net rating with him on the court and were minus-20.1 points per 100 possessions during the 41 minutes he sat, according to NBA.com.

Small sample size metrics aside, Finney-Smith will prove to be just as valuable to whoever he plays for after his time in Brooklyn has expired. Given his age and contract status, it would be beyond stunning if he was on the Nets’ roster past the February 8 NBA Trade Deadline. After the season, he has a player option for approximately $15.4 million that he almost certainly will decline. Since he does not fit in the Nets’ near-term timeline, it would behoove General Manager Sean Marks to move Finney-Smith in the next few months for Draft capital.

How much consideration the Nets will receive will depend on a host of factors, most notably Finney-Smith’s health. For those of you who’ve watched Finney-Smith lay it on the line over the first 10 games, it’s not like he’s saving himself for his next employer. The toll he puts on his body is enormous. He hustles and guards full-court 1-through-5, unafraid to body up against those assignments larger than his listed 6-foot 7, 220-pound frame. If he can get his three-point shooting percentage up a tad from his 34.5% rate this season (his career three-point efficiency is about 35.5%, which is around league average), an unprotected future 1 returning to Brooklyn in a trade might not be such a pipe dream.

For winning players like Finney-Smith are hard to find. The Mavericks, who went to the 2024 NBA Finals, allegedly still miss him despite gaining star guard Kyrie Irving in the deal with the Nets at the prior year’s deadline. The Knicks have expended a fortune in young player prospects and Draft assets to acquire OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges from Toronto and Brooklyn, respectively, in about a six-month span. Wings who can space the floor and effectively guard multiple positions are right below superstars on the NBA value chart.

If you go through the matchup numbers per NBA.com’s tracking that show how Finney-Smith has fared against some of the league’s most potent scorers when he was the nearest defender going into Saturday night’s contest, the following stands out:

Nikola Jokic 4-for-10

Jayson Tatum 3-for-9

Jamal Murray 1-for-5

Franz Wagner 2-for-5

Ja Morant 2-for-4

Trae Young 1-for-3

Note the variety in player styles and sizes among the elite scorers in the above list. Some other big bodies like Brook Lopez and Zach Edey got him a bit more, but in total, Finney-Smith’s field goal percentage allowed as the nearest defender was 44.3%, or 4.7% better than those opponents otherwise averaged, the 15^th-best difference in the league among the 92 players who defended at least 100 field goal attempts this season.

For the Nets, trading away vets was probably preordained following July’s transactions as part of this season’s tanking plan to secure the best odds for the 2025 Draft lottery. That Finney-Smith’s contributions to a few early wins inadvertently kneecapped the plan a tad is offset by his effect on the new culture imposed by rookie Head Coach Jordi Fernandez. The Nets have surprised teams by how hard they’ve been playing, which sets a standard for those that are in line to be the next men up.

On the other hand, you have to wonder who will fill the inevitable void when Finney-Smith departs. It’s been reported that Marks could have somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million in salary cap space to play with this coming offseason, but if players of such ilk are scarce now, you have to think it will be then as well.

Depending on other Nets moves, I wouldn’t consider it the worst thing if Marks could bring Finney-Smith back for two years with an AAV of around $25 million. Of course, I suspect Finney-Smith would like to play out his career for a more immediate contender. Unfortunately. that probably won’t be here.