Indiana Pacers: Which Free Agents Should Stay?

Ty Lawson

If they made an award for Least Improved Player, I’d imagine Lawson would be the runaway favorite.

Lawson averaged 15.2 points and 9.6 assists per game in 2014-15 for the Denver Nuggets before a season from hell.

Lawson received his second DUI of 2015 in July and was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he was expected to help the Rockets contend for a title.

Instead, Lawson found himself as one of the reasons for the Rockets failing to meet expectations, resulting in them firing Kevin McHale just 11 games into the season after coaching them to the Western Conference Finals just the prior season.

Rock bottom for Lawson was being waived so that the Rockets could sign Michael Beasley once his season in China came to an end.

Lawson signed with the Pacers on Mar. 7 and played 13 regular season games with mixed results.

Lawson assumed the role of backup point guard and ran the second unit to positive results to end the regular season, albeit mostly against bad teams playing for lottery position or playoff teams who had already secured their seeding.

In the postseason, Lawson was a disaster. The Pacers were outscored by 25.9 points per 100 possessions when Lawson was on the court. He shot only 33.3 percent from the field and appeared afraid to shoot due to a lack of confidence in himself.

Keep or Let Go?

Let go.

This is a tough one, but I’d just cut loose from Lawson. Lawson is intriguing as a backup option and could be gotten for cheap if he can return to the level of play he showed with the Nuggets.

But Lawson will be 29 in November and if the diminutive point guard’s speed and quickness continues to fade, he’ll soon become unplayable as he won’t be able to score, create for others, or defend at an ideal level, even for a backup.

Next: S. Hill