How Bad of an Investment was Dorian Finney-Smith for the Houston Rockets?

The Houston Rockets are currently trying to trade and offload the veteran Dorian Finney-Smith. In the 2025 offseason, Houston signed him to a 4-year $53 million contract from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Houston has very little salary flexibility, and signing Smith only decreased the little lee-way they had for their roster management. In his first and only season, Smith averaged a career low: a measly 3.3 points per game.

He was brought to Houston with the hopes of being a threat from 3 point range, but averaged a horrendous 27% from deep.  This was a huge step back from his previous season where he averaged 39.8% from deep with the Lakers. This was likely due to undergoing an ankle surgery, which proved detrimental by causing an overall decline in his production.

With Houston's lack of depth and salary flexibility, they simply cannot afford to keep Smith on their roster. Although they will have to take a financial loss to let him go, it is almost necessary to offload him as soon as possible.

If Houston want to be a serious contender and pose a threat to the likes of the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder, they will need to make financially sound investments, and cannot afford to overpay for players' salaries such as Smith. Will they be able to offload Smith and learn from their mistakes?