Who is Dorian Finney-Smith's father, Elbert Smith? Looking at Nets player's family & more

Dorian Finney-Smith’s father is Elbert Smith. Dorian Finney-Smith plays for the Brooklyn Nets but was once a Dallas Maverick. Christmas came early for Finney-Smith thanks to his Dallas connections. Mavs owner Mark Cuban helped with Dorian Finney-Smith’s father's legal case.

Jason Lutin, the chief of staff of Mark Cuban’s Companies, worked with the former attorney general, Jerry Kilgore, in Virginia to reconsider Finney-Smith’s father’s case. He got the authorities to reconsider his parole.

The efforts worked as Smith was given parole. Dorian Finney-Smith’s father spent the past 28 years in prison.

Finney-Smith and his father were finally reunited. The basketball player called the reunion the best Christmas present ever.

Finney-Smith was thankful for the efforts of Mark Cuban, the former Mavericks majority owner. He had plenty of love for his former team in Dallas and was grateful.

"Thank you to the Mavs family for this. This is past basketball," Finney-Smith said. "You can't even try to put into words what they did in this situation."

Why was Dorian Finney-Smith’s father in prison?

Dorian Finney-Smith’s father, Elbert, spent 28 years in prison. On Tuesday, Smith was released from Virginia’s Greensville Correctional Center.

Finney-Smith was released from his NBA duties to reunite with his father upon his release.

"We just hugged," former Mavs wing Finney-Smith told the Dallas Morning News. "A long, long hug. So many questions and stuff that we have. It was very emotional."

Elbert Smith spent 28 years in prison for an incident that occurred when he was 23 years old. Smith and Diefen McGann went to collect a debt from Willie Anderson II at an auto repair shop in Virginia Beach.

According to legal documents, McGann and Elbert Smith each brought a handgun. The encounter resulted in a skirmish. Andersen attempted to take McGann’s gun, and Smith lunged at Andersen with a knife. McGann then fired three shots at Andersen. Andersen died on the scene.

McGann and Smith were charged with first-degree murder. McGann took a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter and a five-year prison sentence. Smith instead went to court on the advice of his attorney because he did not fire the fatal shots. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 44 years.

He is now free on parole after being granted an early release due to the efforts of Cuban and his colleagues. Smith will live in Virginia with Finney-Smith’s mother and cousin.