Ty Lawson Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz, Speculation Surrounding Nuggets PG
With the team sitting well out of the Western Conference playoff race and possessing a deluge of mid-cost veterans, many expected the Denver Nuggets to be perhaps the NBA's most active team at the deadline. Those in the know viewed the likes of Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler and others as being available for the right price. The only untouchables were seemingly Ty Lawson and Jusuf Nurkic.
Well, not so much with the former.
Continue for updates.
Lawson Likely to Stay in Denver
Thursday, Feb. 19
According to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post, Lawson will likely remain a Nugget through the trade deadline.
Nuggets Shopping Lawson, Targeting George Hill
Wednesday, Feb. 18
ESPN's Chris Broussard reported Denver has been actively shopping Lawson as we near Thursday's trade deadline and has even targeted Pacers guard George Hill:
Broussard also noted that the Los Angeles Lakers are eyeing Lawson along with Phoenix's Goran Dragic:
Despite the Lakers' reported interest, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Denver hasn't been seriously impressed with any offer for Lawson so far.
Hill, 28, worked with Nuggets head man Brian Shaw when the coach was an assistant under Frank Vogel from 2011 to 2013. The Pacers point guard, who is in the midst of a career-best season, is the type of defense-first grinder Shaw would like to target to run his system. Shaw has long been a proponent of a slower playing style, but Denver's roster composition has made that impossible.
Lawson, a jitterbug point guard who is at his best running in the open court, is one of the root causes. He and Shaw have butted heads at different points over the past two years, even as Lawson continues to be Denver's best all-around player.
The former North Carolina star is averaging 16.9 points and a career-high 10.1 assists per game. He's also recovered from injury-related struggles that followed him early in the season, upping his field-goal percentage the last two months. His overall rate now sits at 44.7, lower than his career average but an improvement over 2013-14.
That said, Lawson's recent uptick in production has not resulted in wins. Denver entered the All-Star break with 13 losses in its last 15 games. When Lawson failed to show up for Wednesday's practice—the team's first after the break—it increased speculation something could be amiss.
"We had a week off or nine days between games, and you expect everybody to be here," Shaw said, per Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post. "It disrupts the planning of everything, in terms of you count on somebody in practice. But he's not here so we had to go without him."
The Nuggets did not have an explanation for Lawson's absence. They are scheduled to play in Milwaukee Friday, so expect that story to be solved at the very least. As for whether Lawson's actually on the move or if this is merely another deadline smoke screen, well, we'll find out sometime within the next 24 hours.
All that's left is to sit, watch the rumor mill and wait.
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