Finney-Smith blocking out trade chatter
LOS ANGELES — The NBA silly season is starting to kick in. That means players seeing their names in trade rumors and reports. Several Nets are living that now.
Dorian Finney-Smith is one of them. But the veteran forward is determined to keep his head down and keep the main thing the main thing.
“It always gets weird around this time in the NBA,” Finney-Smith said before scoring just three points in 28 minutes of the Nets’ 130-112 win over the Lakers. “Just can’t focus on the outside noise. That’s part of it. There’s nothing you can do about it.
“We’ve all got social media, so you’re going to hear it. It ain’t real. It’s a whole bunch of chitchatter until something officially happens. I’m a Brooklyn Net, and I want to win. That’s all that matters.” It’s not real — until it is.
The Post reported the Nets turned down an offer of two first-round picks for Finney-Smith just before last season’s trade deadline.
With this season’s trade deadline approaching on Feb. 8, and the Nets in freefall — losing 14 of 17 entering Friday night’s win against the Lakers — FinneySmith has been linked in rumors again.
At 30 years old, Finney-Smith likely doesn’t fit the Nets’ timeline. But with that much experience in the league, he also has learned how to focus through the rumors.
“For sure. I never really paid attention to that s--t,” Finney-Smith laughed with a shrug. “If it happens, it happens.”
Royce O’Neale has reportedly drawn offers of a first-round pick, while Spencer Dinwiddie has been of interest to other teams as well. SNY reported the Hawks checked in on the latter. All 30, they’re the three oldest players on the roster.
Mikal Bridges was upgraded from probable with a right shin contusion to available. He extended his NBA-long streak of consecutive games to 433, and had 17 points and five rebounds in Friday’s win.
“I’ll see how he’s moving,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “No restrictions minutewise that I’ve been given. But overall, I’ll see how he’s moving out there for sure.”
Ben Simmons (back) was still out vs. the Lakers.
The Nets didn’t consider bringing first-round pick Noah Clowney up from the G-League despite his recent form and Long Island having just played in California. With Day’Ron Sharpe out, the Nets extended Nic Claxton’s minutes (22 points, 14 rebounds on Friday), used Finney-Smith as a smallball 5 and afforded Harry Giles III more time. There were schematic reasons as well.