Former Sacramento Kings guard Ty Lawson was arrested July 16 after allegedly stealing a $34 bottle of Tito’s vodka from a liquor store in Castle Rock, Colorado, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by FOX31 in Denver.
The report also says Lawson, while being booked into the Douglas County Jail, repeatedly directed racial insults at a police officer, calling the officer “b----” and “white b----,” according to the California Post, a West Coast sister publication of the New York Post.
Lawson is 38 and has been arrested multiple times since 2008, including several arrests for driving under the influence.
Before his off-court issues became part of his public record, Lawson built a decorated basketball résumé. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year while leading North Carolina to the NCAA championship in 2009, and he also won the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s top point guard.
He entered the NBA with the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2009 draft and went on to average 12.7 points and 6.0 assists across eight seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers and Kings.
Lawson spent his first six NBA seasons in Denver, then played for Houston and Indiana in 2015-16 before joining Sacramento in August 2016. He appeared in 69 games for the Kings in 2016-17, making 25 starts and averaging 9.9 points and 4.8 assists in 25.1 minutes per game.
His final regular-season NBA game produced the first triple-double of his career, a 22-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound line in a 129-104 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Lawson later signed with the Washington Wizards for the 2018 NBA playoffs, where he averaged 5.8 points and 3.0 assists in 19.2 minutes per game in a first-round series against the Toronto Raptors.
In Other News...
Kansas State Just Sent A Surprising Message About Andrej Kosti
Andrej Kostic arrived at Kansas State with the kind of profile that can quickly turn into a burden, especially for a young international player trying to find his footing in college basketball. The Serbian guard was the only freshman to play under Jerome Tang last season and averaged 5.2 points, enough to show promise but not enough to justify the kind of expectations that can follow a player with his background.
Now Casey Alexander is signaling a different approach, one aimed less at spotlight and more at steady development. The new coach has noted Kostics improvement, but the staff also wants to temper the outside buzz that can build around Serbian players, giving him a fresh start and a little less pressure as Kansas State tries to let his game grow on its own terms. [Read more 🡒]
K-State Alumni Have A Chance To Send KU Fans Into Meltdown
A Kansas State alumni group is set for another round with a Kansas Jayhawks-based squad in The Basketball Tournament on Friday, this time back at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. The matchup has already produced a split, with each side taking one game, and the return to a familiar K-State setting gives the Wildcats former players a chance to protect home turf in a series that has already shown how little separates the two sides.
The rosters bring plenty of recognizable names into the mix, with K-State leaning on a group that includes former standouts such as Jacob Pullen and Xavier Sneed, while the KU side features familiar faces like Frank Mason III and Zeke Mayo. It is the kind of alumni game that carries a little extra edge because of the rivalry history behind it, and Fridays meeting adds another layer with the winner taking control of a series that has stayed tight from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Faces One Brutal Question As Another Reset Begins
Kansas State is starting over again, this time with Casey Alexander taking over as head coach and a roster that looks almost entirely new after a disappointing 2025-26 season. It is the kind of reset that can bring hope in a hurry, but it also comes with the usual warning label in college basketball: new coach, new players, new expectations, and very little time to figure out how it all fits together.
Alexander has already acknowledged how much work is ahead in building something from scratch, and he does at least have the benefit of a fresh start. Still, not everyone around the sport is buying into an immediate turnaround, with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein among those who sound skeptical about how quickly this group can improve. For Kansas State, the bigger question now is not whether the rebuild is real, but how long it will take before there is anything tangible to show for it. [Read more 🡒]