Former NBA point guard Ty Lawson had quite an interesting tenure with the Denver Nuggets.
Technically, Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson hasn’t been in the league since 2018, when he signed a rest of the season contract with the Washington Wizards in April. However, he’s been playing in China for the last three seasons, where he’s become one of the league’s best playmakers.
On Thursday morning, Lawson took to Twitter to deny claims that he has any hard feelings for the Nuggets. Denver traded Lawson and a future second round pick to the Houston Rockets in the 2015 offseason, in exchange for Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni and a future first round pick.
People think I hate the nuggets.... I don’t know why.... Im in china i stay up all night to watch all nba games.... real fan of basketball
— Ty Lawson (@TyLawson3) September 3, 2020
Shortly before the trade, Lawson had been arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence. It was the second time he had been charged with driving under the influence that year. Although it’s unconfirmed, it’s likely that Lawson’s legal issues and his sizable contract he was supposed to make $12.4 million in 2015-16 and $13.2 million in 2016-17 were major factors in the team’s decision to send him to Houston.
In addition, the Nuggets had just selected point guard Emmanuel Mudiay with the seventh overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
The Denver Post’s Christopher Dempsey gave a detailed rundown on all the missteps and mishaps that the troubled point guard had while in Denver.
Drafted with the 18th overall pick in 2009, Lawson also had plenty of great moments with the Nuggets though.
In 2012, he scored 32 points to force a Game 7 with the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. In 2011, he hit 10 threes in a row against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He also hit multiple game-winners.
That said, he did plenty of things to endear himself to the organization and fans. He just did a lot of things to alienate himself from the organization too.
There’s reason to think that Lawson didn’t just dislike playing for former Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw but that he didn’t want to play in Denver either, with a deleted Instagram post apparently showing him expressing a desire to play for the Dallas Mavericks while he was still with the Nuggets.
All that said, it should be clear why people don’t think Lawson is too fond of his former team.
Even to him.
However, as he’s one of the more entertaining players to have played for the Nuggets, it’s great to hear that Lawson doesn’t hate them.