The Pacers could be staring at a clean swing for a bench need if Dorian Finney-Smith ever reaches the buyout market after his move to Atlanta.
That possibility opened up Tuesday afternoon, when reports said Finney-Smith had been rerouted from Charlotte to the Hawks in a deal that also sent Ryan Nembhard - the brother of Indiana Pacers standout Andrew Nembhard - and Pacers legend Buddy Hield to Atlanta. Finney-Smith’s contract is not exactly light, but there’s a catch: it becomes non-guaranteed after this season. If he wants another shot at the market and Atlanta decides the money is headed for the drain anyway, a buyout could make sense.
If that happens, Indiana should be paying attention.
Not long ago, Finney-Smith looked like the kind of wing every contender wants. Before last season, the idea of signing him would have felt obvious.
He had already gone from Brooklyn to LA after a run of trades that made him a prime target for teams hunting a three-and-D forward. When the Lakers let him walk in free agency, plenty of people wondered where they would find that kind of shooting and defense again.
Then came a rough year that changed the conversation fast. The Houston Rockets gave him a four-year, 52-million-dollar deal to start free agency ahead of last season, and he responded by averaging three points per game and becoming mostly unplayable on a roster that never really needed him in the first place. Houston then moved him to Charlotte for three second-round picks and cash, and now he’s on the way to Atlanta.
Still, there’s a reason to think the Rockets version of Finney-Smith might not be the real one.
A year before that collapse, he was shooting 48% from the field and 41% from deep. In Houston, those numbers fell to 33% overall and 27% from three.
That’s a brutal drop, and it’s fair to wonder whether the 33-year-old is simply sliding into the part of his career where the decline starts to show. It’s also fair to ask whether he’s just a league-average shooter now, or whether he was riding shotgun next to Luka Dončić for so long that his best looks were baked into the setup.
But the other side of the argument is just as real. He could still be a useful shooter whose efficiency got buried by a team with no real playmaking.
He could still defend and rebound. He could still help a roster that wants size and versatility on the wing.
That’s where Indiana comes in. The Pacers need another wing option to round out the rotation, especially someone who can handle both the three and the four.
Finney-Smith fits that job description. Put him next to Tyrese Haliburton, and the fit gets even cleaner.
Haliburton, the source noted, may be the only player in the NBA better than Luka at creating open corner threes.
If Finney-Smith becomes available for nothing, the Pacers would have little reason not to take the shot. The risk would be gone. The upside would be a chance to patch the team’s last real hole.
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For Pacers fans, it is another reminder that Haliburton does not carry himself like a player dazzled by the trappings of stardom, even with a massive deal already in hand. He also noted that he expects his travel habits to change if his next contract lands where he wants it, which adds a little intrigue to how he sees his career, his future earnings and the comforts he may eventually decide are worth it. [Read more 🡒]
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For Indiana, that kind of talk is only going to linger until the next season starts answering questions. The Pacers have recent postseason credibility, but they also have injury concerns and roster changes hanging over them, which makes this more than a simple respect debate. The challenge now is proving last spring was a step forward rather than a peak, because the conversation around Indiana is still waiting for the kind of season that settles it for good. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Could Benefit From A Knicks Problem Getting Harder To Ignore
The Knicks have spent the summer trying to stitch together a roster that can stay in the contender tier, but the cap keeps making the job harder. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart both eligible for major extensions, New York is staring at the kind of money decisions that can shape not just next season, but the shape of its title window. The team already brought back Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado, and it also lost Mitchell Robinson, a reminder that even active roster management has limits when the ledger gets tight.
For Indiana, that kind of squeeze matters because the Pacers are trying to climb in a conference where small openings can change everything. If the Knicks have to keep choosing between holding the core together and preserving flexibility, it could affect how aggressively they operate in trade talks and how stable they look over the long haul. The Pacers do not need New York to collapse to benefit, only for one of the Easts biggest rivals to spend more time dealing with cap problems than building momentum. [Read more 🡒]