The Wizards have signed Ty Lawson to the fill the final open spot on their roster, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Per the NBA’s transactions log, the move was made official on Wednesday, the final day teams could sign players to their roster.
Lawson, 30, spent the 2017/18 season in China playing for the Shandong Golden Stars. In 46 Chinese League contests, the NBA veteran averaged 25.5 PPG, 6.5 APG, and 2.2 SPG, shooting 40.1% on three-point attempts.
The Wizards were linked to Lawson two months ago when John Wall was sidelined with his knee injury, but the team signed Ramon Sessions to help provide point guard depth. Even with Wall back in the lineup and Sessions still on the roster, Washington has circled back to Lawson, who received his letter of clearance once his playoff run in China on Wednesday, per Charania.
Because he wasn’t waived by an NBA team after March 1, Lawson will be eligible to play in the postseason for the Wizards, though he seems unlikely to see much – if any – action.
The Wizards had been one of two teams with an open spot on the 15-man roster, so they didn’t have to make a corresponding move to create space for the point guard. Charlotte will finish the 2017/18 season as the only club with fewer than 15 players on its standard NBA roster.
What great news. Now we can win the title!
Why wouldn’t they sign him 2 weeks ago? At the very least you could put him a couple of games to find out if he gels before playoff games. This makes no sense whatsoever.
Apparently he was playing in the postseason in China right up until Wednesday — I imagine the Wizards probably would’ve preferred to bring him over earlier if they could have.