{"id":15743,"date":"2024-12-30T04:41:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T04:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15743"},"modified":"2024-12-30T04:41:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T04:41:33","slug":"breaking-lakers-trade-dangelo-russell-3-picks-for-3-and-d-stud-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15743","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Lakers Trade D\u2019Angelo Russell, 3 Picks for 3-and-D Stud: Report.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1481045441-e1735492730428.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1481045441-e1735492730428.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1481045441-e1735492730428.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1481045441-e1735492730428.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"D'Angelo Russell, LeBron James, Lakers\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"1011\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1175\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">D&#8217;Angelo Russell #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates a LeBron James #6 basket.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0finally made their big move, trading\u00a0D\u2019Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks for\u00a0Dorian Finney-Smith\u00a0and Shake Milton,\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported on December 29.<\/p>\n<p>The 6-foot-7 Finney-Smith is the quintessential 3-and-D wing, a multi-positional defender who can also defend centers and forwards. He is hitting 43.5% of his 3-pointers this season, averaging 10.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. The 31-year-old forward can also play center in small-ball lineups when\u00a0Anthony Davis\u00a0takes his customary rest if their other backup centers are not available.<\/p>\n<p>Russell returns to Brooklyn, where he became an All-Star point guard in 2019. The former No. 2 overall pick is averaging 12.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists this season. He will have the opportunity to start and refurbish his diminished value with the rebuilding Nets on a contract year.<\/p>\n<p>Milton is a serviceable backup point guard who is averaging 7.4 points on 38.9% 3-point shooting and 2.4 assists this season.<\/p>\n<p>Russell has become expendable once the Lakers found their strides with\u00a0Austin Reaves\u00a0as their playmaker in the backcourt.<\/p>\n<p>Reaves just dished a career-high 16 assists in the Lakers\u2019 132-122 win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, December 28, for their fifth win in six games.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Impact of The Trade Goes Beyond The Court<\/h2>\n<p>The trade fortified the Lakers\u2019 depth and would likely improve their\u00a021st-ranked defense\u00a0and their 3-point shooting. Finney-Smith and Milton average a combined 3.4 per game versus Russell\u2019s 1.9 per game this season. The Lakers ranked 27th in 3-pointers made, averaging 11.8 per game. If Finney-Smith and Milton sustain their season mark, the Lakers could jump into the top 20.<\/p>\n<p>Lakers rookie coach JJ Redick now has two big wings in\u00a0Rui Hachimura, who is shooting a career-high 45.2% from the 3-point line, and Finney-Smith to toggle between his offensive and defensive lineups.<\/p>\n<p>But the trade did not only help the Lakers basketball-wise, but it also made financial sense for them. According to Charania, the trade also saved the Lakers a total of $15 million as they moved $3.5 million below the second apron.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Lakers Keep Their Powder Dry<\/h2>\n<p>The Lakers were able to pull it off without giving up any of their first-round picks, setting them up for a bigger move down the road.<\/p>\n<p>They could technically trade three first-round picks, but one of those is the top-4 protected pick in 2027, which they currently owe to the Utah Jazz in the\u00a0Russell Westbrook trade in 2023. They could trade that protection (meaning if it lands within the top four) in addition to their 2029 and 2031 selections.<\/p>\n<p>Charania earlier reported that the Lakers are now more open to trading their draft capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re monitoring the sellers around the NBA \u2014 Portland, Washington, Toronto, maybe Chicago,\u201d\u00a0Charania said on the \u201cFirst Take\u201d on December 26. \u201cMy sources in that Lakers front office tell me they\u2019re open to moving \u2014 they\u2019ve got three first-round picks they can trade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re open to moving that in a potential trade, but they want a player or players that they feel can get into this iteration of this team now with\u00a0LeBron James\u00a0and\u00a0Anthony Davis, but can also play for three, four or five more years under JJ Redick as the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty D&#8217;Angelo Russell #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates a LeBron James #6 basket. The\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0finally made their big move, trading\u00a0D\u2019Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Lakers Trade D\u2019Angelo Russell, 3 Picks for 3-and-D Stud: Report.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15743\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Lakers Trade D\u2019Angelo Russell, 3 Picks for 3-and-D Stud: Report.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty D&#8217;Angelo Russell #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates a LeBron James #6 basket. 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