Should the Denver Nuggets sign Lance Stephenson?

The Denver Nuggets are one of four teams expected to attend Lance Stephenson‘s private workout in Las Vegas this week. Born Ready is hoping to return to the NBA after last playing for the LA Lakers in the 2018-19 season.

The 30-year-old averaged 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 16.5 minutes per game with the Lakers in his last season. He played a single season in the Chinese Basketball Association in 2019-20, averaging 26.7 points for the Liaoning Flying Leopards.

When Lance was at his best, in his early years with the Indiana Pacers, he was an athletic, defensively-minded wing who racked up both highlights and Shaqtin’ a Fool clips.

In 2014, it looked like he was about to get his big break, signing a three-year, $27 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets. He only played 61 games for the Hornets as he underwhelmed and was traded shortly thereafter.

Since then, he has bounced around the league, playing for the LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana (a second time), and the Lakers.

After falling out of the league, is Lance Stephenson at a level where he can provide for a championship contender?

Denver Nuggets: What would Lance Stephenson bring to the team?

In his final season with the Lakers, the career 32 percent 3-point shooter hit 37 percent of his 2.9 attempts from behind the arc. He was playing alongside LeBron James and the collection of young prospects in Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Kyle Kuzma.

Lance was a creator off the bench in a team crowded with too many creators. He was assisted on nearly 50 percent of all his shots per the NBA’s tracking data but the unassisted baskets were… I’ll be nice and say not very efficient.

The issue with Lance is that he likes to get into his dribble game, find cracks in the defense by himself, and take inefficient shots. When Stephenson was assisted on a shot in LA, he had a 130.6 effective field goal percentage, when he was unassisted, it dropped down to 108.8.

While it worked in his early Indiana years, as a player who wasn’t asked to do too much with the ball in his hands, it didn’t work as his star grew.

If you take out a large chunk of the off-the-dribble baskets, usually the shots followed up by an air guitar performance, Stephenson might have the makings of a solid 3-and-D role player.

If he comes in, looking to create his own shot a bit much, we’ve seen how that story goes. The teams that are interested in Stephenson all have extremely efficient offenses and likely can’t afford to palm off a few isolation buckets to Born Ready.

Denver Nuggets: Should they sign Lance Stephenson?

One of those efficient offenses that are interested in Lance is the Denver Nuggets according to Chris Haynes, Yahoo! Sports‘ report.

The fit for Denver is simple: the Nuggets will be missing Jamal Murray for most, if not all, of next season, Lance would give Denver another wing creator to take some of the ball-handling duties.

The issue with Denver adding another wing creator is that they already have plenty. Michael Porter Jr. is likely to carry on the late-season surge, Will Barton was re-signed, and Nah’Shon ‘Bones’ Hyland was drafted. That’s before acknowledging the fact that the 2020-21 NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic, does plenty with the ball himself.

If Denver wants to add another player, I’ve written about how they should prioritize a 3-and-D player, someone who can play alongside these creators without taking away from them. Adding Stephenson might be one too many cooks in the kitchen.

Also, there likely won’t be much downside potential on passing on Lance. For example, if Stephenson signs with one of the other teams on this list, hits his high watermark and plays great off the bench, the Nuggets won’t be kicking themselves that they let him sign elsewhere.

We have a large enough sample size to see what the best Born Ready looks like and for what the Nuggets need, it’s not worth the risk.