Dorian Finney-Smith was teammates with Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks from the 2018-19 season to midway through the 2022-23 season.
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On February 6, 2023, Finney-Smith was part of the trade that brought Kyrie Irving to Dallas, as he ended up with the Brooklyn Nets. This ended Finney-Smith’s time with Luka, someone he was very close to.
The two were reunited when Luka was shockingly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, they’ve parted ways again when Finney-Smith signed with the Houston Rockets as an unrestricted free agent.
Finney-Smith recently spoke about his relationship with Luka and how the Slovenian reacted when he signed with the Rockets.
“Oh, man. I was so happy, man. To be honest, I thought I was going to finish my career with Luka in LA, but like I said, things happened,” Finney-Smith said.
“We were excited, you know, happy to get him back. Also sad that everything that happened, you know, with the trade, you know, him being, you know, just the whole emotional thing, the bad talk about his weight, and just all that, cause I knew who he is as a person.
“He, you know, he won’t talk badly about anybody, and you know, he cares. Just like when I went to the Rockets, he shot me a text, ‘I’m happy for you. I’m proud of you. I know you’re excited to be back with your kids and family.’ Things like that show me that he cared.”
Finney-Smith finds himself in a great position as the young Rockets look poised to make some noise in the upcoming season. This is particularly true since they acquired Kevin Durant.
As for Luka, his season may be different as there are a lot of questions still surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James.
