Hawks trade for Dorian Finney-Smith: Buddy Hield and Nembhard out for a win-now wing

The Hawks made their final statement of a busy summer Tuesday, acquiring veteran wing Dorian Finney-Smith in a deal that sent Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard out. It's the latest piece of a roster being rebuilt around defense — the same bet they made when Lu Dort arrived in the offseason. With training camp opening at Vanderbilt at the end of the month, this is the group that'll walk into the season.

Another defense-first move

Finney-Smith is the exact profile this front office has been stockpiling: a switchable, veteran two-way wing who spaces the floor and guards the other team's best scorer without needing plays run for him. Pair him with Dort and Dyson's length and the Hawks have a legitimate claim to one of the meanest wing groups in the East.

That's the through-line of the whole offseason. Trading Zaccharie Risacher for Dort was the pivot, and bringing in Finney-Smith doubles down on it. Atlanta isn't trying to outscore everybody anymore — it's trying to make your offense miserable, then win the game in the mud.

Who goes out

Buddy Hield brought shooting, but he was a one-way piece in a group that clearly wants two-way guys everywhere. Ryan Nembhard only just arrived as part of the original Dort deal, so shipping him out this quickly shows how much the picture changed once the roster started taking shape. It's a cost, sure — losing that floor spacing is real — but the Hawks are clearly betting the defensive identity matters more in April.

The injury cloud

It's not all good news around the roster. Big man Henri Veesaar is expected to miss the season with a torn ACL, a real blow to a frontcourt that was already going to lean on the young guys early. It's the kind of thing that makes the Finney-Smith addition even more valuable — a veteran who can soak up minutes and keep the vibes right while the roster sorts itself out.

What's next

The Hawks announced their 2026 training camp roster Friday, with media day Monday before camp heads to Vanderbilt's Huber Center in Nashville on Sept. 29. Seventeen guys will have to become 15, so there's still a cut or two coming, but the shape of this team is clear now: win-now wings, a swarming defense, and a front office that isn't done moving pieces if the right deal shows up.

Bird Gang bottom line

The Finney-Smith trade tells you exactly what the Hawks are building — they'd rather have two-way junk on the wing than raw shooting, and they're all in on the Dort era. It's a plan with real teeth. Now it's just about whether it plays in April, and that part's on a roster that's suddenly much harder to score on than it was a year ago.

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