For the second time in his career, the Lakers are trading D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets.

The Lakers on Sunday agreed with the Nets on a trade that’ll send Russell, along with second-year wing Maxwell Lewis, to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.

The Lakers will also send the Nets three of their own second-round draft picks (2027, 2030 and 2031) as part of the trade.

“We want to thank D’Angelo for his second stint with us, where we celebrated some great moments and accomplishments on the court together,” general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “We want to wish him and Maxwell Lewis well in their future endeavors with the Brooklyn Nets.

“With this trade, we are thrilled to add the physicality, toughness and elite shooting that Dorian Finney-Smith will bring to our core. We also greatly value the playmaking of Shake Milton. We are excited for our fans to get both of these players out on the court.”

Finney-Smith is a player the Lakers have long-coveted, being in trade rumors involving the Lakers going back to last year.

The nine-year NBA veteran averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 20 games with the Nets this season.

Finney-Smith, 31, is shooting a career-high 43.5% on 3-pointers (5.4 attempts), including a career-best 43.3% on catch-and-shoot 3s, the 14th-best mark among the 64 players to average at least four catch-and-shoot 3s per game.

Finney-Smith has developed a reputation as a formidable 3-and-D forward after struggling with his shot to start his career with the Dallas Mavericks as an undrafted player out of Florida in 2016.

He’s shot 37.5% on 3s (five attempts per game) since the 2019-20 season, including 37.9% on catch-and-shoot 3s (633 of 1,668).

The Memphis Grizzlies were reportedly also looking to trade for Finney-Smith. HoopsHype NBA Inside’s Michael Scotto reported that the Grizzlies offered a top-15 protected 2025 first-round pick, Luke Kennard and John Konchar to the Nets for Finney-Smith and second-round draft picks, but the Nets traded Finney-Smith to the Lakers.

Lakers coach JJ Redick, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons (2006-21), was previously teammates with Milton with the Philadelphia 76ers (2017-19) and Finney-Smith (2021).

Milton, a seven-year NBA veteran, has averaged 8.5 points (45.2% shooting, 36% on 3s), 2.5 assists and 2.2 rebounds for his career, including 7.4 points and 2.4 assists in 27 games with the Nets this season.

Redick showed admiration for Finney-Smith during his previous career as a podcaster/broadcaster, tweeting on May 8, 2022, “How can u not love [Finney-Smith]” and providing significant praise on his podcast, “The Old Man And The Three.”

“The one guy I just got to shout out cause I love watching him play, and I’ve played against him now for a few years and he does so many things that just don’t show up in a box score and that’s Dorian Finney-Smith,” Redick said at the time. “Or, as he’s affectionately known as Doe-Doe. Doe-Doe is just an awesome player. He’s a player that could fit on any team in the NBA. He’s incredibly valuable, great defender, hustles, makes all the plays.”

Finney-Smith could add elements of toughness and defensive versatility in their frontcourt that they’ve lacked, especially in light of Jarred Vanderbilt’s continued absence from offseason surgery to both his feet.

The Lakers announced earlier in December that Vanderbilt is targeting a return for early January after he experienced swelling in his left knee during his return-to-play process.

The team’s long-term starting lineup could be a storyline to monitor in light of the Lakers’ acquisition of Finney-Smith, who’s started in 350 of 365 regular-season games (and all 35 playoff games) since he first became a full-time starter in 2019-20 – when his 3-point shooting accuracy started to uptick.

Max Christie has stepped up his play since being named the fifth starter alongside Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He’s averaged 11 points (46.4% shooting, 45.2% on 3s), three rebounds and 1.3 steals in his previous eight games as a starter. The Lakers are 4-1 in the five games they’ve started Reaves-Christie-Hachimura-James-Davis.

A couple of weeks ago, Redick said Hachimura has “been our most consistent player just in terms of what we’ve asked him to do and then going out and executing it.”

Sunday’s trade ends a turbulent saga for Russell, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft that the Lakers reacquired ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.

Russell, 28, had plenty of highs during his second stint with the Lakers.

He was a significant part of turning around their 2022-23 season, leading to a Western Conference finals appearance. Russell had one of the best seasons of his career in 2023-24, setting the Lakers’ single-season 3-point record with 226 makes.

But there were also lows: his performances in the 2023 Western Conference finals and last year’s playoffs; his subpar defensive play that led to imbalance in the starting backcourt alongside Reaves.

Russell entered this season as a starter before moving to a reserve role after eight games amid the Lakers’ 4-4 start.

He entered Sunday averaging a career-low 12.4 points in 26.3 minutes, which was his lowest minutes average since his third season.

Russell, who’s on a $18.7 million expiring contract, will return to the Brooklyn franchise the Lakers traded him to in 2017, with Russell making his lone All-Star appearance with the Nets in 2018-19.

Lewis, the Lakers’ 2023 second-round pick, mostly played with the organization’s South Bay G League affiliate since being drafted.

There are also financial benefits of the trade for the Lakers.

By sending out more salary ($20.6 million) than they acquired ($18 million), the Lakers are now about $3 million under the second apron threshold ($188.9 million) after previously being around just $400,000 under the threshold. Teams over the second apron are severely limited in their options with signing/trading for players.

The Lakers gave themselves more room under the second apron if they needed to take in more salary for this season in a future deal ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Finney-Smith has a $15.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season as part of the four-year, $55.6 million contract he signed with the Mavericks in February 2022. Milton has a $3 million salary for next season and $3.3 million salary for 2026-27, but both seasons are non-guaranteed.