One NBA insider revealed how negotiations were held between the LA Lakers and Dorian Finney-Smith.
The Los Angeles Lakers were extremely inactive during this free agency period. Despite their roster needs a lot of work, Rob Perinka doesn’t do much.
In fact, the Lakers were one of the biggest losers of free agency, only signing it during the period so far.
The Lakers lost three free agent targets to the other teams on the first day of free agency. To make matters worse, the Lakers lost Dorian Finney Smith in free agency.
It’s hard to understand why the Lakers are less offensive. Rob Perinka wants to prioritize the 2027 free agency window. This shows that many fans don’t understand.
But for the Lakers president, things are only getting worse from bad. Because handling of negotiations with Dorian Finney Smith appears to have cost him a valuable two-way wing player.
Zach Lowe spoke on his podcast about what he’s heard so far about the Los Angeles Lakers’ approach to free agency.
Specifically, when it comes to negotiations with Dorian Finney Smith, Lowe admitted that he heard things weren’t going well between the two sides.
This is because the Lakers prioritized their long-term money, and the discussions between the two sides became quite sour.
“On Saturday, I said, ‘Look at the situation with Finney Smith. It’ll tell me how the Lakers think about things. I heard the negotiations are going badly.
“He even opted out. Will the Lakers even try to pay him? The answer to that turned out to be no.
“The Lakers didn’t want to pay him, he opted out, and I don’t think they ended up on very good terms either.”
If the nature of these negotiations is true, then Rob Perinka makes a big mistake in the way he is approaching a free agency.
Currently, Pelinka has two of the best players in the NBA, Lebron James and Luka Doncic. He’s trying to maintain his future flexibility, rather than going out and building a championship roster.
Outside the Lakers sign Jake Laravia, they haven’t made any major waves this offseason. However, they are expected to sign Deandre Ayton today.
Deandre Ayton has a lot of the same discipline issues as Luka Doncic, but it’s not very good as a team.
We’ll have to wait to see if Pelinka is changing his approach or if he’s trying to take some players with him for the competition. But his negotiations with Finney Smith show that he is about to play a long game, for better or worse.