Ty Lawson
Position: Point Guard
Age: 28
Salary: $12,404,495
Slash Line: .376/.324/.710
Season Averages: 24.3 MPG, 6.4 PPG, 4.1 APG, 1.8 RPG, 0.9 SPG, 0.6 3PM
Turn back the hands of time to 2014-15, and then Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson was making a compelling case for an All-Star bid in a deep Western Conference. If not for that obscene depth—Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Klay Thompson, and Russell Westbrook—Lawson likely would’ve made it.
Fast forward to the present day and Lawson isn’t even in the discussion.
Saying that the 28-year-old has looked like a shell of his former self would be a compliment. He’s posting the lowest scoring average of his career, his least assists per game since his rookie season, and is shooting well below 40 percent from the field.
Even Lawson’s generally reliable jump shot and free throw shooting have faltered.
This is a far cry from 2013-14 and 2014-15—two seasons during which he averaged a cumulative 16.3 points and 9.2 assists per game. There’s still dwindling hope that he can rediscover that form, and a non-guaranteed 2016-17 salary makes that possibility all the more attractive.
Lawson won’t net the largest return, but there will be a team that’s willing to gamble on him.
Next: All For What?