The Ty Lawson deal is now official, with the league office approving Houston shipping out Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Joey Dorsey, Pablo Prigioni and a lottery protected first-round pick for the point guard and an unprotected 2017 second-round pick.
While Beverley can be the 3-and-D point guard that meshes well with Harden, Lawson is a second ball handler and playmaker needed when teams try to wrap their defense around Harden. The trade fell through after the Kings signed Rajon Rondo, but it is still very likely that the Nuggets will try to move Lawson, or risk another season in Limbo.
It’s been a turbulent year for Lawson, who was recently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence – his second DUI arrest since January.
“He’s being proactive to deal with stuff and it will be helpful for him, and he’ll get better and put it all behind him”, Walters said. “That can mean possibly that you’re not available for this team for all the scheduling and they have to worry about that”. Lawson will get his mind right and get back to focusing on basketball, and the change of scenery will be exactly what he has been needing.
The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Babbitt appeared in 63 games (19 starts) for New Orleans in 2014-15, averaging 4.1 points and shooting 51.3 percent from 3-point range. His projected RPM at that end of the floor is almost 2 points per 100 possessions below the National Basteball Association average.
As for the interest of the team on the player despite his personal issues, the same report said that they are willing to take the risk just to acquire a really good point guard. He can still play, and the Rockets would be well served to bring him back.
Emmanuel Mudiay, selected by the Nuggets with the seventh overall pick in last month’s draft, is expected to step into the starting point guard role for Denver.
The Rockets return the bulk of the team that lost to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals and now add Lawson to a core led by Harden, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Patrick Beverley and Corey Brewer.
We’ll have plenty more on the trade as the offseason continues.
The Kings were reportedly also interested; although like the Lakers and the Pistons, it doesn’t make sense for them considering they are loaded in the guard position.
