After Ty Lawson's latest DUI-related suspension, what's next?
When the Houston Rockets face the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, they will be without point guard Ty Lawson. The league announced earlier in the day that Lawson would face a three-game suspension for a July DUI arrest in Los Angeles, reportedly the fourth since Lawson's time at the University of North Carolina in 2008. After their game with the Jazz, the Rockets will face the Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies to round out Lawson's suspension.
Lawson previously served a two-game suspension last month for a DUI arrest that occurred in Denver in January. Barring any more setbacks, this should be the last discipline Lawson faces for his crimes. The league has been cautious with its suspensions, opting to wait until court proceedings are either resolved or near resolution before stepping in and imposing an NBA-related punishment. One assumes that Lawson will avoid any sort of basketball "double jeopardy" for his California violation.
And it's that resolution that could move Lawson's career forward. If no more suspensions are coming down the line, a team could convince itself that it's just about basketball now. With Lawson's time in Houston seemingly at an end, he'll be involved in trade rumors until the deadline or until he's dealt, whichever comes first. And he should be. Independent of all of the off-the-court stuff, Lawson doesn't make sense for the Rockets. He never did. He's clearly not interested in being anyone's backup, and Houston needs Patrick Beverley's defense next to James Harden in the backcourt if they're ever going to slow down an opponent's offense. Houston took a chance on Lawson in a trade for basically nothing, and that's about what they should expect in return.
Teams interested in Lawson need to look beyond the simple calculus of him being clear of any impending suspensions, however. He's a talented player who's made some terrible mistakes off the floor. Lawson and those in his immediate vicinity are incredibly lucky that no one has died or been injured because of his actions.
The fact that he has continued to make the same mistakes is troubling. Either he's refusing to learn from his own lessons, or there's a much larger problem here. Whichever it may be, teams interested in Lawson must take a holistic approach to bringing him into their organization and making him feel like he's part of the family.
Lawson is a grown man who has his own agency as a human being. The league and the team he plays for, be it the Rockets or any other, can't watch him every minute of the day, and they shouldn't try to do so. For the sake of everyone involved, though, it's important that Lawson be seen as much more than a basketball player and the end sum of his production.
