Ty Lawson feels overlooked in free agency, for some reason.
The Indiana Pacers currently have 16 players under contract, and none of them are Ty Lawson.
Despite averaging 4.9 points and 4.4 assists a game last season (with the Houston Rockets and Pacers), Lawson is a little surprised he’s been overlooked in free agency.
The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears sat down with Lawson to discuss this, among other issues.
"Lawson believes he is getting his game back this summer.“I think so. The whole thing is with confidence. Last [season] was the first time I felt that I wasn’t the confident player. If I did any wrong thing, I would be scared to shoot it or scared to make a pass. But it’s all confidence. I sat down, looked in the mirror and watched my old YouTube videos and realized I am the same player I am. I just have to be confident shooting the ball and play my regular game.”Lawson was asked if he believes he’s sleeper free agent.“I think so. At this point, I am not going to say they are going to get me for cheap. But they’re going to get me for cheaper than I feel I’m worth … I feel like I’m overlooked in free agency.”"
Lawson may very well still have something left in the tank, but you can’t blame teams for having him low on their priority list.
In Lawson’s very first minutes with the Pacers, he looked like he was going to elevate the bench’s play… but then he got hurt. A bout with sickness didn’t help either.
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To be fair to him, if you look at his per 36 minutes statistics, he would have averaged 9.8 points and 8.7 assists a game. That would have been great, but in reality, he averaged 4.9 points and 4.4 assists in 18.1 minutes a game with the Pacers. Not bad, but Lawson is certainly more than the sum of his stats. His struggles with alcohol when he played with the Denver Nuggets still loom over him, but thankfully look to be in his rearview mirror.
However, at 29 years old and with those issues in mind, he’s going to be a late signing for whoever picks him up. I imagine a number of general managers were more worried about younger prospects in Summer League than signing an older and somewhat troubled player.
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Lawson’s past shouldn’t stop him from finding a new team this offseason, but he isn’t being overlooked as much as he’s not a high priority.