{"id":175065,"date":"2025-08-25T19:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/175065\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:15:17","slug":"houstons-dorian-finney-smith-signing-ranked-among-nbas-best-under-the-radar-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/175065\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston\u2019s Dorian Finney-Smith signing ranked among NBA\u2019s best under-the-radar moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t the most flashy signing, but the 2025-26 Houston Rockets<\/a> could reap big rewards from landing veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency.<\/p>\n

Per Lorenzo Reyes of USA TODAY<\/a>, it\u2019s the exact type of addition that could help the Rockets compete with the defending Western Conference and NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

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In a column exploring five \u201cunder-the-radar moves\u201d that could potentially determine the league\u2019s 2026 champion, Reyes writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

This move was overshadowed by\u00a0the trade to land Kevin Durant<\/a>, but signing Dorian Finney-Smith feels like a move that was done in response to the rise of the Thunder. The Rockets, with Finney-Smith, suddenly have elite length and defensive athleticism at the wing, which should align with clamping Oklahoma City players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Finney-Smith can also hit 3s \u2014 he shot a career-best 41.1% from beyond the arc last season \u2014 so he helps spread the floor for Houston.<\/p>\n

Another move worthy of consideration here is re-signing center Steven Adams, who allows the Rockets to play a two-big lineup, matching up with the Thunder duo of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Rockets were a top-five defense<\/a> last season, and adding Finney-Smith to the likes of Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, and Josh Okogie offers considerable defensive potential on the wing. Furthermore, Finney-Smith\u2019s arrival could offset the loss of veteran forward Dillon Brooks, who went to Phoenix as part of the Durant trade package.<\/p>\n

Finally, it\u2019s also worth noting who Houston \u2014 which finished at No. 2 in the West last season \u2014 signed Finney-Smith away from.<\/p>\n

By adding Finney-Smith, the Rockets (52-30) weakened the team directly behind them in the West standings, the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> (50-32, No. 3). In addition, as Reyes pointed out, the signing should help them match up with the team directly in front of them.<\/p>\n

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For general manager Rafael Stone, finding that type of competitive advantage \u2014 in one fell swoop \u2014 versus two of Houston\u2019s primary West rivals could prove critical.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>In signing with Rockets, Dorian Finney-Smith sees \u2018great team\u2019 with a chance to be special<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets earn praise for \u2018under the radar\u2019 Dorian Finney-Smith signing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t the most flashy signing, but the 2025-26 Houston Rockets could reap big rewards from landing veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":175066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[8435,7943,7190,20541,24834,4345,3136,12110,3367,99555,3359,77249,3141,6949,1268,3371,8610,8607,358,3187,7184],"class_list":{"0":"post-175065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-amen-thompson","9":"tag-chet-holmgren","10":"tag-dillon-brooks","11":"tag-dorian-finney-smith","12":"tag-finney-smith","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-rockets","15":"tag-isaiah-hartenstein","16":"tag-jalen-williams","17":"tag-josh-okogie","18":"tag-kevin-durant","19":"tag-lorenzo-reyes","20":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","21":"tag-oklahoma-city","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","24":"tag-steven-adams","25":"tag-tari-eason","26":"tag-texas","27":"tag-tx","28":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115091008771156005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}