The Rockets and Hornets have agreed to a trade that will send forward Dorian Finney-Smith and three future second-round picks to Charlotte, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the three second-rounders headed to the Hornets in the deal are Memphis’ 2027 pick and Houston’s own picks in 2028 and 2033.
The Rockets made Finney-Smith a top priority during the 2025 free agent period and landed him on a four-year deal worth nearly $53MM. But his first and only season in Houston didn’t go as planned.
The 33-year-old wing took longer than expected to recover from offseason ankle surgery and wasn’t his usual self when he did eventually return, averaging just 3.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assist in 16.8 minutes per game across 37 appearances, with an ugly .333/.270/.889 shooting line.
Finney-Smith, a reliable three-and-D contributor before his ankle injury, had been repeatedly identified in recent weeks as a trade candidate and the Rockets ultimately found a taker for his $13.36MM salary, though they’ll have to give up three second-round picks to move off that contract, which is non-guaranteed beginning in 2028/29.
Based on their reported deals with Marcus Smart, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Tari Eason, the Rockets had been approaching the second tax apron. This deal will move them out of apron territory altogether and likely below the tax line too, depending on the structure of Eason’s contract. However, it will leave them with just 12 players under contract, so they could end up going back into the tax before the offseason is through.
Houston will also generate a trade exception worth $13.36MM and will open up the non-taxpayer mid-level exception after previously being restricted to the taxpayer portion, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link). Smart’s deal is expected to come out of the MLE, and it’s worth noting that the two sides were said to be discussing a three-year contract earlier in free agency — he reached a two-year agreement, but now that the non-taxpayer MLE is open, the two sides could amend the terms to tack on a third year before making it official, if they so choose.
More to come…
