The Pacers have been looking to bolster their backcourt for quite a while now, and team president Larry Bird has been looking for a true point guard.
The team and unrestricted free agent Ty Lawson have agreed to a deal, per Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports and Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. To open up a roster spot for Lawson, the team will complete a buyout deal with forward Chase Budinger, who they traded for over the summer, by the end of the week.
Ty Lawson, 28, is in his seventh NBA season.
Last summer, Houston pulled the trigger and acquired the 28-year-old point guard from Denver in exchange for a lottery protected first-round pick in 2016, cash considerations, and four players. Lawson didn’t mesh in well down in Houston and his (and the team’s numbers) reflected that.
He played 53 games and averaged career-low numbers, 5.8 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game. That, after averages of 15.2 points, a career-high 9.6 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game in his sixth and final season in Denver. Lawson was the 18th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, selected by Minnesota and then sent to Denver.
Wanting a safe pick during a time when they needed a player with a clean image, the Pacers selected the hard-working and ferocious Tyler Hansbrough, Lawson’s teammate at UNC, at 13 over him.
Because Lawson was waived by the Rockets prior to the March 1 deadline, the point guard is eligible for postseason play. Budinger, meanwhile, is not.
Budinger was out of the rotation for a while until recently due to several injuries. He, too, is averaging the lowest numbers of his career: 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist per game. The Pacers acquired him from Minnesota, in a deal for sharpshooter Damjan Rudež, with hopes that he would thrive on the wing. They were excited about his range and with how they could use him in transition.
Lawson has a checkered past.
He was suspended two and three games, respectively, this season by the NBA for driving under the influence of alcohol. The former in Denver, the latter in Los Angeles last July. Because of the second suspension, Lawson did not face the Pacers in early January. It was second DUI of the year andhis fourth overall, according to reports. And, there was a video shared during the NBA Draft with Lawson smoking a hookah and speculating about a trade. “Told you, I’m going to Sacramento, bro,” he said in the video.
This isn’t the first time Bird has taken a chance on a player. He drafted the athletic but raw Lance Stephenson in 2010, and traded for big man Andrew Bynum in 2014.
Former Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw got his first head-coaching gig in Denver in 2012 and he coached Lawson for 141 games over a season and a half.
More on Lawson:
+ Rockets reach buyout settlement with point guard Ty Lawson
+ Ty Lawson’s career at a crossroads
+ Lawson misses first practice after all-star break