Rockets Trade for Denver Guard Ty Lawson

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA Insider for Yahoo Sports, the Denver Nuggets are working on a deal to trade point guard Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets.

As part of the deal the Rockets will send forward Kostas Papanikolaou, center Joey Dorsey, guards Nick Johnson and Pablo Prigioni and a protected 2016 First Round pick. In return, Denver will send Lawson with a 2017  future second-round draft pick .

Denver are getting two young contributors in Kostas Papanikolaou and Nick Johnson. K-Pap had a strong start to the season last year, even playing in the rookie game during All Star weekend. Johnson is another second year player, while he didnt get much playing time in Houston, he will surely get his chance to bring his defense and athleticism to Denver. In Dorsey and Prigioni, the Rockets are sending away two veteran players who helped throughout the regular season and the playoffs. Dorsey backed-up Dwight Howard in the rotation and Prigioni truly showed his worth during the playoffs. Pablo acted as the floor general that pushed Houston to the Western Conference Finals

Ty Lawson is currently entering a private alcohol treatment program after the suspicion of DUI this past week. This is the second time the point guard has been charged with suspicion of DUI in the past six months. The Nugget GM Tim Connelly talked to Lawson on Friday, this is what he had to say, ” Ty is going through a rough time right now, but we’re all behind him…..Ty’s a really good person. He’s a Nugget, so when one of our guys goes through issues, we support him as a family and everyone stands behind him.” While this all seems awkward, now that the Rockets are acquiring him, Lawson now has the opportunity to rebuild his career with a proven playoff team.

Not without his personal issues, Ty is a borderline All-Star player. During his time with Nuggets he has averaged 14.2 points per game and 6.6 assists while shooting 46%. He is arguably the fastest player in the NBA, and will fit nicely with the uptempo Rockets.

With Josh Smith’s resent departure, the Rockets were looking for another player to contribute to their offense. They have found their answer with Lawson.