As the Atlanta Hawks navigate a roster crunch, they made a trade with the Charlotte Hornets to acquire Dorian Finney-Smith. In return, Atlanta gave up Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard and cash considerations.
On the surface, this trade doesn’t seem like much. To the confusion of many, the Hawks chose to fully guarantee Hield’s contract at $9.66 million for the upcoming 2026-27 season. Meanwhile, Nembhard was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in the Zaccharie Risacher deal that also sent Lu Dort to Atlanta.
Ultimately, Hield was not a part of the Hawks’ rotation and saw little playing time. Nembhard never played a game with the Hawks, and just like Devin Carter, he was a casualty in Atlanta’s roster crunch.
Finney-Smith Struggled Mightily Last Season
There’s no beating around the bush: Finney-Smith was not good last season. In 63 games with the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024-25 season, he shot 44.8% from three and provided value as a prototype 3-and-D wing. In Dallas between 2020 and 2022, Finney-Smith shot 38.9% from three on nearly five attempts per game.
The Houston Rockets scooped him up last offseason on a four-year, $53 million deal. Houston thought they were getting a premier 3-and-D wing to help their defense and floor spacing. Instead, he had surgery on his ankle and didn’t debut with the Rockets until Dec. 25, 2025.
Unfortunately, Finney-Smith would have the worst season of his career in Houston. In just 37 games, he played just 16.8 minutes per game, averaging 3.3 points while shooting 27% from three. All those numbers were career-lows for the 33-year-old veteran wing. The Rockets shipped him to Charlotte, who flipped him to Atlanta, where he hopes to find himself again.
Finney-Smith Makes Sense For The Hawks
Structurally, Finney-Smith’s archetype fits exactly what the Hawks are looking for. His wing defense just adds to what Atlanta has been building over the last few seasons with Onsi Saleh. His shooting could be a major add for Atlanta as well. However, all of this is contingent on his 2025-26 season being an outlier.
Looking at Finney-Smith’s contract, he’ll be owed $14.2 million for the upcoming season, but the final two years of his deal are not guaranteed. This means that the Hawks can evaluate him without having to commit to him beyond next season. With that said, the upside of Finney-Smith returning to his past self could help Atlanta immensely. Assuming that Dort and Aaron Wiggins come off the bench as rotation pieces, it might be difficult for him to find consistent playing time.
All three of them are in the same boat: struggling players from last season looking to bounce back. It is easy to blame Finney-Smith’s struggles on his ankle injury that required surgery. But Atlanta has no problem seeing if he has anything left in the tank. If he does, the Hawks could keep him around, but don’t have to make any long-term commitments.
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