As one of the NBA’s best point guards, Ty Lawson is a hot commodity. But apparently the Nuggets are going to keep him in Denver.
With two days remaining until the NBA’s trade deadline, Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson is apparently not on the trading block.
The Denver Post is reporting that an anonymous NBA source has said the Nuggets are fielding calls (as are the other 29 teams in the league), but that the veteran point guard—an All-Star at one point—is not among those being offered in deals.
As the Post’s Chris Dempsey notes the Nuggets are receiving calls from teams about many of its players, and serious interest is had among contending teams for the services of wing players Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler.
As Grantland’s resident NBA expert Zach Lowe wrote on Monday, the Nuggets really are the wild card in this week’s NBA trade circles. The Nuggets have the most movable and desirable talent, while residing in a stacked Western Conference which does not even guarantee the immensely talented Oklahoma City Thunder a playoff spot.
Bottoming out may not be the worst out strategy for a Denver team which really is stuck in no-man’s land. Point guard Lawson, and power forward Kenneth Faried could yield a first-round pick, or two, from a team desperate to win now.
It is important to remember that around a trading deadline or a draft, rumors are aplenty. One source says one thing, another says something seemingly opposite. The only definitive thing we know is that there is one source, probably close to the Nuggets and their front office, who says they are not moving Lawson.
Beyond that, we know we will have a better feel this time two days from now. The official deadline for moves to be turned into the NBA office is 3 PM ET on Thursday, February 19.
Sometimes news of a deal will surface within the media after that 3 PM deadline, but no moves can be made which are not turned into the league offices by that 3 PM deadline.
Whether Lawson—tied with John Wall for assists per game numbers at 10.1 per and averaging his second most points per game, at 16.9 per contest, is moved remains to be seen.
The 27-year-old point guard is under contract until 2017 when he turns 30. Thus shipping him out only makes sense if the Nuggets are ready to pull a 76ers and bottom out altogether.
As one of the better point guards in basketball, Lawson is a potential bargain as a player who never counts for more than $13.3 million against the cap in the next 2.5 seasons, according to Spotrac.
That may be the same reasoning Denver is employing in supposedly not shopping him on the trade market.
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