Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
JULY 20TH, 4:25pm: The Nuggets have waived Prigioni, and the deal is official, Denver announced in a press release. In a condition of the trade, Lawson has agreed to make the 2016/17 season, the final year of his contract, non-guaranteed, sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link). As part of the deal, the Nuggets receive cash considerations, Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston tweets. The press release from the Rockets notes that it’s their own lottery-protected 2016 pick going to Denver.
SUNDAY, 8:16pm: The Rockets have reached a deal with the Nuggets that will send Ty Lawson to Houston, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com had tweeted just moments earlier that the sides were deep in talks. Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson and a protected 2016 first-round pick go to Denver, Wojnarowski adds (All Twitter links). Houston will receive a 2017 second-round pick in addition to Lawson, as Wojnarowski also reports (on Twitter). The first-rounder going to Denver is lottery-protected, and the second-rounder headed to Houston is unprotected, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The move, when it becomes official, will bring an end to Lawson’s tenure with the Nuggets even though GM Tim Connelly and coach Michael Malone both expressed their support for the troubled point guard in recent days.
Chris Mannix of SI.com last week identified the Rockets as a team with interest in the point guard even in the wake of his latest DUI-related arrest, which came Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. It was his second such arrest in six months. Lawson entered a 30-day residential treatment program on Saturday.
Houston made more sense as a Lawson suitor than the Pistons or the Lakers, the two other teams Mannix identified in his report from last week, since both Detroit and L.A. made major investments in point guards this summer. The Pistons agreed to re-sign Reggie Jackson for $80MM and the Lakers drafted D’Angelo Russell No. 2 overall. The Lakers indeed made a determined push, but the Nuggets preferred what Houston offered, Stein reports (on Twitter). Rockets re-signed Patrick Beverley, but only for $23MM over four years. Beverley and Lawson now figure to compete for minutes.
The Kings and Nuggets reportedly spoke about Lawson prior to the draft, but Sacramento apparently wasn’t willing to give up the No. 6 pick in exchange for him in large measure because of the 27-year-old’s off-court issues. By contrast, Lawson’s talent appears to have convinced Houston it’s worth taking a shot on him, as he’s coming off a career-high 9.6 assists per game.
The trade nonetheless carries financial consequences for the Rockets. Lawson’s contract calls for him make more than $12.404MM this season and in excess of $13.213MM in 2016/17, and the exchange as reported so far will push Houston over the $84.74MM luxury tax threshold by about $500K, according to former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Rockets have until the end of the regular season to go under that line and avoid paying the tax. Houston faces a hard cap of $4MM above the tax line if it signs No. 32 pick Montrezl Harrell to a contract that covers more than two seasons at the minimum salary, as Marks also points out (on Twitter). The swap also means the Rockets aren’t in line to open cap space next summer, Marks adds (Twitter link).
The Nuggets meanwhile go under the cap with the deal and are set to open an estimated $46MM in cap space next summer, Marks tweets. Papanikolaou’s salary of nearly $4.798MM for this coming season is non-guaranteed, and Prigioni’s salary of almost $1.735MM carries only a $440K partial guarantee. Dorsey’s pay of about $1.015MM and Johnson’s approximately $845K salary are fully guaranteed, but they don’t make much of a dent in the Nuggets payroll.
The most significant on-court effect for Denver is that No. 7 overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay, also a point guard, has a clear shot to lead the team. The Nuggets re-signed Jameer Nelson, who seems to have a decent shot to begin the coming season as a starter, but Mudiay is clearly the team’s future at the position, and Malone had no shortage of enthusiasm about his play during summer league, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Did the Nuggets get a fair return for Lawson, considering the circumstances? Leave a comment to have your say.
Ty Lawson to Denver along with all the other assets! What a great move. I’m pretty sure Lawson is going to Houston lol
Ha, of course!
What a terrible trade glad the nuggets waited to trade lawson until his value was at 0. But hey the nuggets got an over protected first rounder so win for us right.
When they got rid of George Karl, replacing him with Bryan Shaw of all people, that was when they lost Lawson. Honestly, I cant believe it came to this. Really poor decision making in that area for them. They underachieved their most recent core. At least they have a very good head start on a new group
pennies on the dollar. just awful for the nuggets. but he was perhaps, a distraction (or worse) in the locker room and had worn out his welcome. and considering how some talented players get dumped for nothing (Larry Sanders) or who suddenly lose all ability to play (Hibbert, D-Will), salvaging a 1st Rounder for an off-court nightmare like Lawson is about what you can expect.
It’s terrible to deal him for so little but i’m not sure he’s worth much more.
So Denver got another 3/4, another undersized 5, a buyout candidate that should help someone if he signs somewhere in Prigioni, and an athletic combo guard to add to their other combo guards, with a probable late 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick…for Ty Lawson? Houston lost Josh Smith, but this is a huge get for them. It should be interesting though. I’m curious how they plan on figuring out touches in the back court. That being said, theoretically, this is really big for them, especially with the depth they now have at PG with Beverly coming off the bench. I just still think they need to make things easier for them in the half court by playing a little more inside-out.
To really try to figure out what Denver looks like right now, I’m going to have to take some more time to look at their roster. Maybe its a more decent deal than I’m initially thinking. I just dont think I can really say that though
Well u think about it on paper for the rockets now with ty Lawson looks like this:
PG Ty Lawson
SG James Harden
SF Corey Brewer
PF Trevor Ariza
C Dwight Howard
Man that is going to be a tough team to beat in the western conference next year
Nope Ariza at the 3 Dmo at the 4
Oh sorry my bad Ariza at the 3 and brewer at the 4
Brewer isn’t starting. Unless there injuries to tjones,dmo,etc
Not to disagree with the AGM Marks, but can’t the Rockets avoid being hard-capped by keeping it to a 3-year deal and ostensibly using their mini-MLE in case they’d end up over tax/the hard cap?
Whoops! Just kidding, looks like they already used the majority of the mini-MLE amount, so they couldn’t squeeze a contract for Harrell under that amount anyways.
Looks like any non-VM contract for Harrell would require using the more of their MLE.
Lawson is a great fit now I can see the pick and roll work to the perfection only if Howard works on those free throws ally hoops dw12
This was a good-enough return for Lawson for the Nuggets, considering the circumstances. Would’ve liked to see them acquire Terrence Jones in this deal though.