Former Denver Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups thinks that current Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson should be traded because he lacks a certain intangible.
Billups appeared on 104.3 The Fan in Denver on Thursday and hinted at Lawson’s “lack of leadership” as the reason why.
Do the Nuggets have to move on from Ty Lawson?
Yes. I think so. I mean, well, one, Ty, he has not demonstrated what you want from the leader of your team and a guy who they’ve handed the keys to. He’s not demonstrated the kind of leadership that you want. And you have a young kid named [Emmanuel] Mudiay coming in who I think has a chance to be a star in this league. Right now the best player on the team is Ty Lawson. As a young player in the league, you come in 19-20 years old, you oftentimes try to emulate some of the actions on the floor and off the floor of the best player because that’s one day what you want to be. So I think just from the standpoint of the welfare of Mudiay and the well-being and the growth of Mudiay, you have to get Ty Lawson and you have to move him along.
What would you take for Ty? How desperate are you to make that move?
It’s tough. You know, I think he just needs a change of scenery. Obviously you gotta get proper value for him because he is still a very good player and I think in the right situation Ty can be good for somebody. But Ty can’t be the leader of your basketball team. I thought they knew that, but you find out how you find out. But I think you try your best to move him but you don’t want to get beat over the head for him. At the moment right now, he’s not giving everybody a good snapshot of what he is, with the immature things that he’s doing, whether it’s social media, the things that he’s saying. So you’re looking from the flips side and you’re saying, ‘Yeah, the guy’s a good player, but do I really want him on my team with all of that?’ You know what I mean? So it’s not just him as a player and what he can do. This is a guy that’s gonna come there, he’s not coming to be nobody’s backup. He’s a starter. He’s a good player. So it’s tough what he’s doing right now.
Harsh words, but Lawson seems disengaged, and probably would benefit from a change of scenery and the extra motivation that a trade would provide.
Denver has obviously moved on, selecting Emmanuel Mudiay in the lottery.