{"id":148101,"date":"2025-06-30T19:05:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T23:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148101"},"modified":"2025-06-30T19:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T23:05:50","slug":"rockets-sign-dorian-finney-smith-to-53-million-deal-completing-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/30\/rockets-sign-dorian-finney-smith-to-53-million-deal-completing-heist\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets Sign 41.1% Wing To $53 Million Deal, Completing Heist"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 The Houston Rockets<\/a> struck swiftly to lock in Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> on a four-year, $53 million contract. ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania first reported<\/a> the agreement, which came together after Finney-Smith\u2019s agent, Michael Tellem of Excel Sports, met with Rockets executives late Sunday. Dorian Finney-Smith\u2019s deal represents a major step to reinforce the Rockets’ wing rotation with an elite 3-and-D piece. Finney-Smith is exactly the player Houston needs for our defensive identity.<\/p>\n

Rockets Sign 41.1% Wing To $53 Million Deal, Completing Heist<\/h2>\n

The Lakers Lose Out<\/h3>\n

This signing stings for the Los Angeles Lakers,<\/a> who surrendered three second-round picks, Maxwell Lewis<\/a>, and D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a> to acquire Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets<\/a>. Now, they lose a player who shot a career-best 41.1% from deep while holding opposing All-Stars to 47% effective shooting in half-court situations. That defensive mark ranked top ten among players who defended 125 or more shots last season.<\/p>\n

With Dorian Finney-Smith\u2019s deal, the Rockets adds depth and hits a rival where it hurts.<\/p>\n

Fit And Role With Houston<\/h3>\n
\"The
Apr 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) controls the ball against Los Angeles Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith (17) during the first half in game five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finney-Smith, who turns 32 this season, averaged 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds across 28.9 minutes per game in 2024-25. His impact often showed in on\/off stats. With the Lakers, Los Angeles had a net rating of +11.1 when he played \u2014 the best on the roster \u2014 compared to a -3.5 when he sat.<\/p>\n

Finney-Smith\u2019s\u00a0<\/b>arrival directly addresses the void left by Dillon Brooks<\/a>. Brooks, known for his physical defense and steady shooting, departed in the trade that brought Kevin Durant<\/a> to Houston. Finney-Smith can guard big wings and stretch the floor at a high clip, maintaining the defensive grit Houston needs next to Durant.<\/p>\n

Loaded Depth And Big Plans<\/h3>\n

Fred VanVleet\u2019s<\/a> restructured deal gave the Rockets the non-taxpayer mid-level exception they used here. That spending power allowed them to close the Finney-Smith deal swiftly and prevent other suitors from driving up the price.<\/p>\n

Houston now projects a loaded starting five of VanVleet, Amen Thompson<\/a>, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a>, and Alperen Sengun<\/a>. Reserves like Finney-Smith, Tari Eason<\/a>, Steven Adams<\/a>, and Reed Sheppard<\/a> round out one of the West\u2019s deepest rotations. Last season, Houston\u2019s defense ranked top five leaguewide. Keeping that defensive bite was crucial, and this signing helps preserve it.<\/p>\n

Texas Ties Help Close The Deal<\/h3>\n

Finney-Smith spent his first six-plus years in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks.<\/a> His familiarity with Texas living reportedly helped seal the agreement. For a player who values stability, Houston made perfect sense.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll join a franchise that just won 52 games and finished second in the West. The Rockets expect Durant\u2019s scoring and Finney-Smith\u2019s shooting to create ideal spacing to boost an offense that sometimes lagged last year.<\/p>\n

A Heist Done Right<\/h3>\n

Few expected Houston to move so quickly for Finney-Smith. By offering Dorian Finney-Smith this deal, the Rockets closes a clear gap while weakening a top rival in Los Angeles. It\u2019s a decisive, well-timed move as the Rockets continue to position themselves among the league\u2019s rising contenders.<\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2013 The Houston Rockets struck swiftly to lock in Dorian Finney-Smith on a four-year, $53 million contract. ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania first reported the agreement, which came together after Finney-Smith\u2019s agent, Michael Tellem of Excel Sports, met with Rockets executives late Sunday. Dorian Finney-Smith\u2019s deal represents a major step to reinforce the Rockets’ wing rotation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":148113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,31,26,3],"tags":[50219,2272,4975,4557],"class_list":["post-148101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-lakers","category-news","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148114,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148101\/revisions\/148114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}