Lakers Trade D'Angelo Russell to Nets in Four-Player Swap

The 28-year-old guard is reportedly heading back to Brooklyn.

Russell is averaging 12.4 points and 4.7 assists in 26.3 minutes per game this season. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

D'Angelo Russell is heading back to Brooklyn.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday, citing sources, that the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks (in 2027, '30 and '31) to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.

The Lakers acquire needed wing depth in Finney-Smith, a 31-year-old forward who averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 29 minutes per game for the Nets this season. Milton, a 28-year-old shooting guard, has registered 7.4 points per game while shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc in 2024-25.

Finney-Smith, set to make $14.9 million this year, has a $15.3 million player option on his contract for the 2025-26 campaign. Milton has two years remaining on his deal—although none of the cash is guaranteed after this season.

In 29 games for the Lakers this season, Russell averaged 12.4 points and 4.7 assists in 26.3 minutes per game.

Russell is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 season concludes this summer. Lewis, a second-round pick in 2023, has two years remaining on his rookie deal and a club option for 2026-27.

The move marks the fifth time Russell has been traded in his career—and the second time he's been sent from the Lakers to the Nets. Los Angeles traded him to Brooklyn in 2017, and the Nets shipped him to the Golden State Warriors in 2019. One year later, the Warriors traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who flipped him back to the Lakers at the 2023 trade deadline.

Russell had the best years of his career in his previous stint with the Nets, as he was named to his lone All-Star Game in 2019. He helped the 2018-19 Nets to a 42–40 record and surprising playoff appearance under coach Kenny Atkinson.

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