Denver acquired rights to Ty Lawson from Minnesota Timberwolves for first-round pick (protected top 12 in 2010, top 10 in 2011, top 8 in 2012, top 3 in 2013, unprotected in 2014) (2010 #16-Luke Babbitt).
Denver acquired the draft rights to Ty Lawson, the No. 18 pick in 2009, from Minnesota for a protected future first-round pick. The Nuggets were coming off a Western Conference finals run and used the trade to add a young point guard behind Chauncey Billups without waiting another year for the outgoing pick to resolve. Lawson was not a speculative stash: he joined the rotation immediately and grew into the starting job.
Lawson spent six seasons with the Nuggets and became the team’s primary point guard. By his third season he was a full-time starter, and in 2012-13 he averaged 16.7 points and 6.9 assists for a 57-win Denver team. That sustained production is the central value of the trade. The Nuggets paid one future first and received several seasons of starting-caliber play from the player they targeted on draft night.
The protected first conveyed in 2010 at No. 16, where Minnesota selected Luke Babbitt. The Timberwolves did not keep Babbitt; they traded his rights with Ryan Gomes to Portland for Martell Webster. That means Webster cannot be credited entirely to the Lawson transaction because Gomes was also in the package. Minnesota did convert the pick into usable value, but the branch never matched the long-term point-guard production Denver received.
Minnesota had already drafted Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn before selecting Lawson, so moving the third point guard for a future first had an understandable roster logic. The hindsight result is still decisive. Lawson became a high-level starter for Denver, while Minnesota’s incoming first became only one component of a later trade package. The original A- and D+ grades fit the realized gap without pretending the decision was irrational on draft night.
Nuggets Win — Denver A-, Minnesota D+. Denver exchanged a protected future first for Ty Lawson and received six seasons from a player who became its starting point guard and one of its leading offensive creators. Minnesota’s first conveyed at No. 16 and helped acquire Martell Webster, but that return was shared with another outgoing asset and never approached Lawson’s Denver value. The Nuggets won the completed asset exchange clearly.