Nuggets Trade Ty Lawson to Houston Rockets

Ty Lawson was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Los Angeles early Tuesday morning, the Denver Nuggets point guard’s second DUI arrest in less than six months.

Wojnarowski also stated that the Ty Lawson deal will send Pablo Prigioni, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou and a protected first to Denver Nuggets. If the Rockets can get the good Ty Lawson, then they can challenge the Golden State Warriors for the West crown. He’s one of the better point guards in the league. A bench unit of Lawson, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer, Terrence Jones and Clint Capela would be a blur, racing around both ends of the court creating turnovers, getting to the rim, and running second units ragged throughout the season.

Lawson has become more expendable with each passing summer league game, in which Emmanuel Mudiay is showing he does have what it takes to be a star player in the National Basteball Association. The first round pick will likely be in the late 20’s, meaning it’s not a high price for the Rockets to pay for Lawson’s services. He has a perfectly agreeable contract at more than $12 million this year and $13 million next year, considering his level of contribution, and the Nuggets were happy to rid themselves of him. Think about the carnage the Rockets will encounter just within their division. Lawson has his issues to deal with, so maybe a little downgrade in stature won’t be something too hard for him to swallow. The Nuggets are expected to waive or trade Prigioni in the coming week. But in negotiations (and that’s what a trade is), one of the first rules is to give the other guy something they want to make sure they believe they have won.

Overall it feels like a big win especially if Lawson brings a professional attitude to Houston and works in concert with Harden. While you can question this move when it comes to what it will mean for team chemistry, from a pure talent perspective the Rockets bought low on an extremely talented player.