Ty Lawson to Rockets: Latest Trade Details, Comments, Reaction

After spending the first six years of his career with the Denver Nuggets, Ty Lawson is on the move. 

On Sunday evening, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported the Nuggets had agreed to trade Lawson to the Houston Rockets. He later shared details of the package Houston will be sending to Denver:

The Nuggets eventually confirmed the news on Monday.

The first-round pick will be conveyed in 2016, per Wojnarowski. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reported the pick is lottery protected. Wojnarowski has indicated that point guard Pablo Prigioni is part of the trade, but Denver intends to either trade or release him in the next 24 hours.

"He's excited," Lawson's agent Happy Walters said to Mark Berman of Fox 26. "I spoke to him once about it. He's close with James (Harden), tight with Corey (Brewer), knows Trevor (Ariza) and Dwight (Howard) and is real excited.

"It's an opportunity for him. He's been deep in the playoffs before, but this is something he feels really good about."

Rockets GM Daryl Morey discussed how he envisions Lawson helping the team, per Adam Wexler of KPRC-TV Sports: "He's one of the best playmakers in the league, we feel now it will be more difficult for teams (to load up on Harden)". 

Lawson has been rumored to be on the market since before the Feb. 19 trade deadline. ESPN's Chris Broussard reported at the time that Denver head coach Brian Shaw wanted to work out a deal with the Indiana Pacers for point guard George Hill. 

While nothing came of that rumor and Shaw was later fired, which led to the hiring of Mike Malone, it was clear for some time that Lawson would be playing elsewhere before the 2015-16 season started. 

Mitch Lawrence of NBC New York reported the Nuggets were considering waiving Lawson after his DUI arrest in July. It was his second such arrest this calendar year.

Before the latest DUI arrest, other teams hoped that the Nuggets would lower their asking price for Lawson, according to Wojnarowski. Back in February, Grantland's Zach Lowe said, "Denver isn't dealing Lawson unless it gets a bounty in return."  

In May, Matt Moore of CBS Sports wrote that Lawson ranked seventh among all players last season in points produced per game through scoring and assists, while acknowledging some of the criticisms of the 27-year-old's playing style:

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There's a lot of question marks with Lawson. His aggressiveness, his size, his off-court issues. But look at those numbers at the top again. He's in elite offensive company as a scorer and distributor. It would make sense for the Nuggets to explore moving him, and for teams to see if in a different environment, with a different status hierarchy, if Lawson could be the difference-maker a team needs.

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ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports the Rockets are taking particular measures to get Lawson's off-court issues in check:

Lawson isn't the prototypical floor general often associated with the point guard position. He doesn't take over a game with a fiery passion and intensity, but some players are wired differently. That can't take away from the fact he's averaged 14.2 points and 6.6 assists per game in six seasons, including 15.2 points and a career-high 9.6 dimes in 2014-15. 

The Nuggets had no incentive to keep Lawson, especially after his latest incident. They drafted Emmanuel Mudiay seventh overall and should give him every opportunity to develop with their roster. 

Finding the right place to utilize Lawson's abilities can help him reclaim some of the value he lost this past year due to his off-court issues. But now that's he has found a team willing to take a chance on his talent winning out over those concerns, it's on him to validate the decision. 

At least on paper, Lawson seems like an excellent fit in Houston, provided he stays out of trouble. Rockets coach Kevin McHale runs an uptempo system, which caters to Lawson's speed and playmaking ability in the open floor.

Houston is also heavily dependent on the three-point shot, as they set an NBA single-season record in 2014-15 for field goals made from beyond the arc. Lawson is a career 36.9 percent shooter from three, but his ability to penetrate the lane and distribute proficiently has to excite Rockets fans.

In addition to MVP runner-up James Harden, the Rockets now have two exceptional slashers to the rim who can generate clean looks for teammates. Lawson could be the X-factor who solidifies Houston as a real threat to knock Golden State off its perch atop the West.