LeBron James tallied his 563rd career 30-point game during the 119-102 win over Atlanta this Friday night, officially breaking Michael Jordan’s record for the most 30-point games of all time. It was also Dorian Finney-Smith’s third game alongside the King. The newly recruited Laker later reflected on his excitement about getting to witness history first-hand.
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“You know, it’s just something I can share with my kids,” DFS said after the hard-fought win. “I get to see greatness and witness greatness and play alongside greatness.”
“I’m excited to be here, excited to make a run at this thing and you know, try to see what we can do in the playoffs,” the 31-year-old added.
I asked Dorian Finney-Smith about his early impressions of the Lakers and playing alongside LeBron James: “This is something I can share with my kids. I get to see greatness and witness greatness and play alongside greatness.” #Lakeshow pic.twitter.com/p5U2np1JIN
— LoJo Media (@LoJoMedia) January 4, 2025
As a prototypical 3-and-D wing, DFS can bring some much needed consistency to the Lakers’ defense without compromising on the team’s spacing. His skillset is the perfect complement to LeBron’s game and the King himself is enthusiastic about sharing the court with him.
After trading D’Angelo Russell and Max Lewis for DFS and Shake Milton, James touched on what he expects his new teammates to add to the Lakers’ roster:
“They bring experience and toughness. They are guys who played in big games and mastered their roles throughout their career and I’m looking forward to them getting into our system and having an immediate impact,” the four-time MVP shared earlier this week.
Finney-Smith had also expressed his excitement about getting to play with an elite passer like LeBron. The former Brooklyn Nets player is expected to convert more threes with the court vision of LBJ at play. This will also solve the Lakers’ age-old three-point shooting woes.
As far as roles go, Finney-Smith should find no difficulty slotting into the starting five alongside LeBron. After all, the greatest beneficiaries of the King’s elite drive-and-kick game are off-ball shooters.
Finney-Smith knows LeBron James will find him in the corner
In 23 appearances this season, DFS attempted 4.9 catch and shoot three-pointers per game while knocking them down at a 42.6% clip. However, the veteran forward revealed that he wasn’t able to get to the corners as often as he would like in Brooklyn.
“Over the last 2 years I’ve been shooting more above-the-break 3’s, but I know ‘Bron, he sling that ball to the corner. I already played with Luka [Doncic] – probably the best two guys at finding guys in that corner,” Finney-Smith said about playing alongside James.
As he recalled, the 2021-22 season, Finney-Smith’s last full year in Dallas, saw him shoot more three-pointers from the corner than he did above the break. At the same time, he was hitting corner threes with a blistering hot 45.6% efficiency while shooting a meager 35% on above the break threes.
Over the last two seasons, and in his first 20 games with the Nets this year, that trend was completely reversed. Finney-Smith attempted 3.1 above the break threes last season while his corner attempts fell to 2.7.
The 2024-25 season could finally see the 31-year-old return to his preferred shot diet. He has still averaged more shots from above the break than from the corners so far, but that experience could become valuable as he is currently making 43.5% of his non-corner three-point attempts.
As a primarily off-ball creator, his game has had to evolve based on who his playmakers are. And as DFS pointed out, playing with a real superstar allows shooters like him to leverage their gravity and find easy, open looks from the corner.
