Rockets to pursue veteran forward

The Rockets may be a prime candidate to secure the services of unrestricted free agent Dorian Finney-Smith, according to Mark Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (via Twitter), who say that Houston has emerged as a “viable landing spot” for the veteran forward.

Finney-Smith declined his $15.4MM player option on Sunday. Reporting at that time indicated that while there was still the possibility of returning to the Lakers, multiple other teams would be interested in the three-and-D specialist. It appears that the Rockets will be one of those teams.

Finney-Smith split time between the Nets and Lakers last season, averaging 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and nearly a steal per game while shooting 41.1% from three. His numbers dropped somewhat when he arrived in Los Angeles, though his on/off-court numbers were strong and he was reportedly a positive influence in the locker room.

The Rockets, who retained Steven Adams earlier in the summer, recently unlocked access to their $14.1 MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception by re-signing Fred VanVleet on a cheaper deal for more years, which they could use on Finney-Smith as they continue attempting to build out a championship-caliber roster following the acquisition of Kevin Durant.