It was a bit of strange theater yesterday, as a Monday morning column on Grantland by Zach Lowe sparked some furor by indicating the possibility that Ty Lawson could be a trade piece from the Nuggets. You can read the column right here. Needless to say this sparked much conversation on Monday and lead to some interesting ESPN trade machine (aka: the tool of the devil) scenarios being pulled from all corners of the earth.
Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post put an end to the speculation (for the time being) this morning with two tweets:
On Ty Lawson: #Nuggets have been called about his availability by numerous teams, but thus far have rebuffed those advances, sources say.
— Chris Dempsey (@dempseypost) February 17, 2015
The #Nuggets have not actively shopped him.
— Chris Dempsey (@dempseypost) February 17, 2015
So ends that bit of drama.
However, Lowe’s column does point out something very accurate. Teams seem to be waiting for the Nuggets in whatever capacity the team looks to trade. Much like the Carmelo Anthony trade of 2011, the NBA seems to be waiting on Denver to make some moves before they can make theirs. Are teams waiting for the Nuggets to come down in their asking price? It seems (as Marc Stein and Lowe said on the BS Report podcast) that teams think the Nuggets are asking for too much in return for their pieces.
Do the Nuggets really have incentive to come down in price if they are claimed to be the lynchpin of the entire trade deadline? I'm not so sure. Get the most you can from your desired trade pieces. That's just good business.
