Ty Lawson was once considered one of the best young point guard prospects in the NBA. He’s now just another guy riding the Sacramento Kings’ bench.
The former Denver Nugget has one of the saddest NBA stories in recent memory. How does one go from an NCAA champion, to a very good starting NBA point guard for several years, to now a forgotten man coming off the bench in Sacramento?
Getting arrested for allegedly being intoxicated while behind the wheel four times definitely hasn’t helped.
While a Denver Nugget, Ty Lawson averaged 14.3 points over the course of six NBA seasons. This included five double-digit scoring years, and four consecutive years of at least 15 points a game.
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Although never an all-star, Lawson was the best player on the Nuggets for many seasons. He was an underrated point guard, never truly discussed as one of the “elite” point guards. But, Lawson was always solid and consistent. He could score and get his teammates involved.
You could always count on him to have a positive impact. He averaged 9.6 assists in the 2014-15 season.
A trade to the Houston Rockets seemed like a match made in heaven. The Rockets needed a point guard to play next to James Harden, and Lawson seemed like the perfect fit.
Unfortunately, this marriage was nothing sort of a disaster. Lawson received a two game suspension for driving impaired, and later served a three game suspension for a separate event involving driving under the influence. He was ultimately waived in a buyout agreement with the Rockets.
Lawson averaged 5.8 points with the Rockets. Lawson later signed with the Pacers and served as a back up point guard to George Hill and averaged 4.9 points while in Indiana. Lawson signed with the Kings this past summer and has started some games, 15 to be exact, but is not the future point guard in Sacramento.
Can his off-the-court issues be the reason for his decline in play over the years? This may or may not be true, but you have to wonder how a player of his caliber has turned into nothing but a bench/role player.
Nuggets president Josh Kroenke told Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears that Lawson abused alcohol for “a couple years” and that there were times where he had alcohol in his system before practice:
“There were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it.”
Imagine if Ty Lawson continued to play like he did with Denver while with Houston. Imagine the contract that would have gone his way. It is such a sad story. What on Earth happened to Ty Lawson?
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