Lakers lose key free agent to Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers’ loss is now the Houston Rockets’ gain.

Free agent forward Dorian Finney-Smith has agreed to sign with the Houston Rockets in free agency, Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Monday. Finney-Smith is defecting to Houston on a four-year deal worth $53 million, Charania adds.

The 32-year-old Finney-Smith became a free agent after declining his $15.4 million player option with the Lakers for next season. Now he is set to make a bit less than that per year with the Rockets ($13.25 million annually) but is getting much longer-term financial security.

Finney-Smith was acquired by the Lakers in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets last December and proceeded to average 7.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game on 44/40/71 shooting splits. At 6-foot-7, he fits the perfect mold of a role player with his length and versatility defensively as well as his ability to shoot threes out of spot-up situations.

But the writing was on the wall for Finney-Smith when it came to a departure from the Lakers. Earlier in the day on Monday, we heard a claim that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka had allegedly alienated Finney-Smith by pulling a shady move on him.

Now in Houston, Finney-Smith figures to have a pivotal role on the scrappy, defense-first Rockets. They lost top perimeter defender Dillon Brooks as part of their blockbuster trade earlier this month for Kevin Durant, and they are now paying Finney-Smith a sizable sum to be their new stopper (alongside fellow wings Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Tari Eason).