Nets Finney-Smith Is Worth Keeping Past The Trade Deadline
With the calendar turning to February, it’s crunch time for NBA General Managers. The trade deadline is a week away, and there is a reason why “ThisLeague” is a popular hashtag on Twitter. Blockbusters can pop up out of nowhere, be it related to a suddenly disgruntled star or an unknown team putting all its chips in to go for broke.
I just don’t expect that team to be the Nets. GM Sean Marks typically makes at least one deal during this period, but there really isn’t anything he could do that would elevate his club enough to make such a splash worthwhile. Further evidence as to how far the Nets are from the league’s upper tier was supplied by Phoenix during their second half runaway in Wednesday night’s 136-120 victory. The contest marked the return to Barclays Center by Kevin Durant, who as most of you know engineered his exit from Brooklyn a year ago in Marks’ final demolition move from a team that was once considered an NBA title contender.
The Nets (19-28) no longer have anyone close to KD’s level, or that of fellow Suns star Devin Booker for that matter. However, they do have some interesting pieces that has other top teams circling in hopes they can bait Marks into making a deal. One such player is versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who sat out Wednesday’s contest with a left ankle sprain (and boy was he--along with injured Ben Simmons and Day’Ron Sharpe—missed, as the towering duo of Durant and Jusuf Nurkic toyed with Brooklyn, missing just 10 of 31 shots to combine for 61 points).
Depending on which insider you follow, Finney-Smith has been mentioned in trade rumors to the Lakers, Heat, and Mavericks, even though they were the team that sent him to Brooklyn in the first place last year in the Kyrie Irving trade. A few weeks ago, Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto reported that Marks’ asking price for Finney-Smith was the “equivalent” of two first-round picks.
That seems tempting, though perhaps a bit aspirational based on the new collective bargaining agreement that places an even higher value on picks. Finney-Smith, 30, might welcome a trade away from this misery to a team with actual playoff goals at this stage of his career.
But if I had Marks’ ear, I’d tell him, “Pass.”
There isn’t any urgency to offload Finney-Smith, who has another year on his contract (and then a player option in the summer of 2025) at a very reasonable cap number of approximately $14.9 million, at this juncture. If this was an “Everything Must Go” type of plan, then you auction off Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges, etc.
But all indications point to Marks keeping Bridges off the market and, since tanking doesn’t help the cause anyway because Houston owns Brooklyn’s 2024 first round pick, bottoming out with inferior players doesn’t make sense from a business or basketball perspective. It would only further alienate a fan base that might be seething from watching Durant and Irving next week lay waste to their former team.
Finney-Smith isn’t anywhere close to that superstar level, but he is clearly in demand. He’s the prototypical 3-and-D player, which can be hard to obtain in the trade market. At 6-foot 7 and 220 pounds, he is a switchable defender 1-through-5 who brings a hit-first mentality to both post defense and boxouts. And he’ll make the hustle plays that secure ball possessions.
As for his role on offense, despite a shooting slump last month, Finney-Smith is still knocking down an above-average 38.3% from three-point ranges on 5.5 such attempts per game this season, including 42.4% from the corners. He can drive close-outs, though he has had an off year with regard to finishing in the restricted area. You don’t want him running pick-and-rolls, but as a floor spacer, he is the perfect fifth starter on a good team.
The Nets happen to have another such player in Royce O’Neale, whose expiring $9.5 million contract makes him more practical for Brooklyn to deal and more affordable to trading partners. He’s actually one month younger than Finney-Smith but is an inch shorter and not as quick or athletic. O’Neale does offer similar three-point shooting capabilities, is a better ballhandler, and masters interior defense in a different way—he might have the best hands on the Nets when it comes to stripping the ball. If Marks holds out long enough, he might be able to recoup the first-rounder he dealt to Utah for O’Neale’s services in the 2022 offseason.
The Nets seem content with staying out of what is deemed to be a weak 2024 Draft and already have a chunk of 1s from other clubs in the three-to-five year range; they don’t need to add more from sustainably winning programs, especially lottery-protected ones.
So I’m hoping Marks tempers his activity over the next week, limiting trades to those on expiring contracts like O’Neale and Spencer Dinwiddie. No tanking, and no bursting through the luxury tax line either by utilizing a trade exception to acquire a marginal improvement. Let the season play out with the current core, including Finney-Smith, and then see what’s out there in the summer.
You never know in #ThisLeague.