NBA Trade Market: Could Mavs Reunite with Nets' Dorian Finney-Smith?

The Dallas Mavericks need to improve their defense this summer, and trading for a familiar face in Dorian Finney-Smith could be on the table.

As the NBA playoffs continue to march on without the Dallas Mavericks, all of us here at DallasBasketball.com are putting our heads together to figure out what improvements the team can realistically make as soon as the season comes to a close.

The Mavs have their two superstars in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving – for now, at least, as Irving is set to become an unrestricted free agent in two months. Dallas owner Mark Cuban and GM Nico Harrison must improve their team's overall depth, defense and frontcourt situation this summer, but that's going to be easier said than done.

One realistic move the Mavs could consider making is trading back for Dorian Finney-Smith … that is, if he gets traded somewhere else first.

Dallas traded Finney-Smith to the Brooklyn Nets at this year's trade deadline in order to land Irving. Cuban and company tried their best to execute the deal without giving up Finney-Smith, who was a fan favorite and one of Doncic's best friends, but Brooklyn insisted on getting the 29-year-old 3-and-D wing.

According to HoopsHype, the Nets had offers consisting of two first-round picks for Finney-Smith at the deadline, but they decided to hold onto him. Although the Mavs can't trade for Finney-Smith until he’s traded to another team first — or until a year has passed from the Irving trade — they also simply can’t afford to trade for him if that's the asking price. However, there's a chance his trade value could've come down based on how his production with Brooklyn went.

In 26 regular-season games for the Nets, Finney-Smith averaged 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting just 35.1 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from deep. In the playoffs, where Brooklyn got swept by Joel Embiid, James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers, Finney-Smith averaged just 6.3 points while shooting 39.1 percent from the field. He did up his 3-point shooting in the postseason at 41.2 percent, though.

Given that Finney-Smith's shooting percentages have declined significantly from where they were from 2019-2022, perhaps the Mavs could get him back for a reasonable price this summer. Dallas likely wouldn't want to part with another first-round pick if Finney-Smith is the only player coming back in this hypothetical deal, but if another key player is involved maybe the Mavs would consider trading this year's first-round pick if it stays at No. 10 in the draft order.

What Finney-Smith provided for the Mavs over the last handful of years went beyond his statistical production. He was the glue that held Mavs' defense together in the 2021-22 season when they made it to the Western Conference Finals. That same impact wasn't there this year, which is why the front office ultimately caved and included Finney-Smith in the deal for Irving, but adding him back now with hopefully even more depth than before could make a big difference.

Finney-Smith loves Dallas, Doncic loves Finney-Smith, and the Mavs could benefit greatly from having him back, especially if Irving is still part of the equation going forward. This kind of move makes too much sense for the Mavs to not at least give it some serious consideration. The Mavs just have to hope Brooklyn deals Finney-Smith elsewhere first if they want to do something this summer.

Follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter @dalton_trigg.

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