The Brooklyn Nets and general manager Sean Marks were at work again on Sunday making another well-ahead-of-the-trade-deadline deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. The trade sees veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith and reserve guard Shake Milton on the move to LA with point guard D’Angelo Russell leaving the Lakers for the second time as he returns for another stint in Brooklyn.
Also coming back to Brooklyn in the trade are second-year forward Maxwell Lewis and second-round picks in 2027, 2030, and 2031. This is the second significant trade that Brooklyn has made this season after sending starting point guard Dennis Schroder to Golden State two weeks ago.
Was this a good deal for Brooklyn?
The trade of Dennis Schroder signified the Nets’ true ambitions this season are to tank, and despite a peppy start to their season, their plan all along was to course correct by dealing veteran assets. In a sense, this trade does just that, however, it may not have been the best move.
The Nets and Lakers have been long rumored to be ideal trade partners with Dorian Finney-Smith being the apple of Los Angeles’s eye. That makes it no surprise that this deal came to fruition, but one has to wonder if Brooklyn got back the best possible parts.
Russell comes back to Brooklyn as the salary match for Finney-Smith as both teams are over the cap. Russell’s $18.7 million deal expires at the end of the season whereas Finney-Smith has a player option for 2025-2026 for $15.4 million that he may have exercised if he remained in Brooklyn given the squeeze we’ve seen the new second-apron luxury tax restrictions put on veteran role players. To that end, Brooklyn gets a small win of having the certainty that that money will be coming off their books in the offseason.
However, one could argue if tanking is the goal, this trade made the team better than it was before. With Schroder in toe, the Nets had an unbalanced roster that was heavy on forwards and light on true point guards. Losing Schroder exposed that vulnerability even more and Russell’s addition somewhat corrects the issue to the point where Brooklyn will be more functional on the offensive end.
Maxwell Lewis and the draft picks are the gems of the trade
Lewis, 22, and the three second-rounders are the prize for Brooklyn, but one has to wonder if they could have held out for more.
The 6-7 forward out of Pepperdine was a second-round pick, 40th overall, in the 2023 NBA draft, and showed some scoring and outside shooting potential during his two college campaigns. In his sophomore season, he averaged 17.1 points per game, shooting 46.8% overall and 34.8% from beyond the arc.
Outside of a few garbage time appearances for the Lakers, he’s spent his young career toiling in the G-League. In all of his G-League appearances this season, he’s averaging 17.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while chipping in 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. As impressive as those numbers are, he’s unfortunately struggled shooting the ball posting a field goal percentage of just 39.9% and connecting on threes just 33.8% of the time while averaging 7.1 shots from downtown per game.
He could potentially develop into a nice 3-and-D wing, which is one of the most valuable role-player archetypes in the league, but the Nets already have a lot of those guys.
As for the second-round picks, they’re not completely valueless, but one has to wonder if the Nets could have held out for a protected first. In the days leading up to the consummation of the deal with the Lakers, rumors were hot that Brooklyn was on the verge of trading Finney-Smith to Memphis for a package that would have included a protected first-round pick as well as Luke Kennard and John Konchar.
That deal posed complications since Konchar’s money doesn’t come off the books until the 2027 off-season. The price for not wanting to take on future money appears to be settling for second-round picks as opposed to a first.
The Nets likely aren’t done wheeling and dealing
The Nets still hold their best trade chip, Cameron Johnson, who is in the midst of a career year, though his contract extending beyond this year means they can be more selective and ultimately decide to hold on to him and revisit his trade market after the season if they aren’t enamored with the offers.
They could also flip D’Angelo Russell in the coming weeks. His second stint with the Lakers was almost as tumultuous as his first, and his numbers have dipped as a result. Shooting just 41.5% overall and 33.3% from three, the one-time All-Star is averaging a career-low 12.4 points per game. If he’s able to get hot over the next few weeks before the February 6th trade deadline, Brooklyn may be able to move him again and if so, could potentially improve the return of what is ultimately an underwhelming trade package for Finney-Smith.