Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Point guard Ty Lawson became the subject of trade talks as soon as the 2014-15 NBA season ended, and now that he has been shipped to the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke is opening up about his strained relationship with his former player.

The Nuggets seemed poised to deal the 27-year-old veteran after drafting Emmanuel Mudiay and re-signing Jameer Nelson, but the process was expedited when Lawson was arrested for driving under the influence for the second time in six months.

According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, Kroenke has long known that Lawson was battling some inner demons:

Ty ... there were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don't want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.

Kroenke also revealed that Lawson's eventual fate was essentially sealed when he missed the Nuggets' first practice after the All-Star break:

"I love Ty and will always love Ty, but once I saw him going down this dark path, we knew that we probably were going to end up in a situation where we were dumping him," Kroenke said. "It creates a weird dynamic."

Denver didn't come away with an overly impressive haul in exchange for Lawson, as it acquired a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2016 in addition to a slew of depth players. The Nuggets were in a tough spot since Lawson's arrest hurt his trade value, but Kroenke suggested he was looking out for Lawson's best interests by sending him to Houston:

In the long run, I hope [the trade] is a good thing for Ty Lawson, the person. There are no guarantees. Sometimes you just need to hear the message from a different person. Sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing for all parties. That's the way we looked at this. ... I think Ty Lawson, the person, is starting to understand more so than he ever has the things he needs to do in order to keep his career on track and more importantly get his life on track.

Lawson was no longer going to work in Denver, but if he is able to correct his off-court issues, then he has a chance to do something special with the Rockets.

As evidenced by this tweet courtesy of ESPN Stats & Info, he brings something to the table that Houston simply didn't have last season:

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is of the belief that the Rockets could be title contenders with the former University of North Carolina standout now in the fold:

One person who is hopeful that Lawson will thrive in his new surroundings is the man who helped facilitate his departure from Denver:

"I fully expect Ty to have success [with Houston]," Kroenke said. "We're going to be cheering him on. I think he's going to have a lot of fans in Denver, Colorado."

Kroenke attempted to help Lawson with his "life struggles" on several occasions, according to Spears, but he was never able to get through to the dynamic point guard.

It is entirely possible that Lawson needed a major change and a shock to the system in order to see the error of his ways, and Kroenke is clearly hopeful that a trade to Houston will be the catalyst that causes him to turn his life around.

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