The Los Angeles Lakers fell short against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. But there were positive things to take away from the loss. The first was that the Cavaliers have the best record in basketball, and L.A. was able to hang tough for most of the game. The second was the generally positive debuts from Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.
The Lakers formally acquired Finney-Smith and Milton from the Brooklyn Nets over the weekend, and they were able to debut them before the calendar flipped to 2025. Finney-Smith didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet, but was a plus-7 in 20 minutes of action.