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After a few seasons of dealing with a lingering ankle injury, Los Angeles Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith reportedly underwent surgery this week.
Finney-Smith, who the Lakers acquired from the Brooklyn Nets during the 2024-25 season, had surgery done on his left ankle but is expected to be ready to go by training camp in the fall.
“The procedure will allow the 32-year-old Finney-Smith to play pain-free after cleaning up a lingering ankle injury that he fought to play through the past several seasons,” ESPN’s Dave McMenamin wrote.
Finney-Smith, 32, played most of the first seven years of his NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks. An undrafted free agent, Finney-Smith signed with the Mavericks in 2016 and eventually made the team’s opening-night roster before becoming a surprise rotation player for Dallas. As a rookie, Finney-Smith averaged 20.3 minutes per game, and every year after that until the year he was traded, he saw his minutes rise.
For the last five years in Dallas, Finney-Smith played alongside and formed a close bond with the team’s star, Luka Doncic, who the Mavericks drafted in 2018. Doncic and “Dodo,” as Doncic calls Finney-Smith, helped lead Dallas to the Western Conference Finals in 2022 before Finney-Smith was traded to the Brooklyn Nets during the 2022-23 season as part of the Kyrie Irving trade.
After about two total seasons in Brooklyn, Finney-Smith was again traded; on December 29, 2024, the Lakers acquired him and Shake Milton for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and a few second-round draft picks. The change of scenery provided Finney-Smith with an opportunity to compete for a championship, and a little over a month later, he was joined by former Mavericks teammate Doncic, who the Lakers acquired in a controversial blockbuster trade before the deadline.
With Doncic on the roster, the Lakers finished the season strong and earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. However, their collective lack of size and general roster composition proved to be fatal detriments to their playoff chances. The Minnesota Timberwolves dispatched of the Lakers in five games in the first round. Finney-Smith averaged 34 minutes and started one game in the series.
Provided he officially exercises his $15.4 million player option, Finney-Smith will be entering the final season of a four-year, $55.6 million contract in 2025-26. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
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