Ty Lawson has been in the news a lot lately, mostly for negative things like his second DUI in six months, or the stories of how he has clashed with previous coaches. However, the focus for the past couple of days has been on how the Denver Nuggets can get rid of the troubled point guard. Reports surfaced on Thursday that Lawson was getting no interest from other teams and wasn't getting much even before the second DUI. Now, it is being reported that teams do have an interest in Lawson, and among those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com.
The Lakers are one of a handful of teams that are reportedly interested in Lawson, with the others being the Houston Rockets, the Sacramento Kings and the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons' interest in Lawson is weird because they just signed Reggie Jackson to a massive deal and have Brandon Jennings coming back from an injury. No matter what, though, these teams might see this as a great time to get a top point guard for very cheap, as Lawson has really hurt his value.
If any of these teams were to acquire Lawson, it would be a move of both high risk and high reward. Lawson has had trouble getting along with coaches and leading besides his well-known off the court stuff, and that could cause a distraction for a team. However, if Lawson were to figure things out and focus on basketball, he could really help elevate a team. Lawson is coming off a season where he averaged 15.2 points per game and was third in the league with 9.6 assists per game.
The Lakers' interest in Lawson is particularly intriguing because they currently have a bunch of guards. It is unknown what any of these teams would have to give up to get Lawson, but it likely isn't as much as his talent is worth. If the Lakers somehow add Lawson to a guard group that includes D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Kobe Bryant, Lou Williams and Nick Young, that would be quite a bit of overload.
This might be one of the scenarios for the Lakers where they just grab a cheap, extremely talented player and figure out the roster configuration later. The Lakers are not used to losing, but they have been doing just that, and their fan base has been clamoring for some star players. Lawson may quite not be a star, but he is a very good player that the Lakers might take a shot on and then figure out how to disperse the minutes amongst the guards later.
