After Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson was arrested for driving under the influence on Tuesday yet again, former NBA star Vin Baker, who had his own troubles with alcohol in the past, offered some advice for the troubled player.

"I wish I could reach out to him," Baker told Yahoo Sports. "I would just give him encouragement no matter where he is at with it. It's a fight, it's real and it's not to be taken lightly. The unfortunate thing sometimes is you have to take a step back from what you've been doing your whole life to deal with something that is life-threatening."

"It's like, "I got to get back to play.' You got to get right first."

As noted by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, Lawson's DUI arrest Tuesday was the second time in six months that the 27-year-old was arrested on the same allegation. He also pled guilty in a North Carolina court to underage drinking and driving back in 2008.

"My advice to Ty Lawson is to make his life his No. 1 priority. I don't know what this means for him as far as suspension or the discipline aspect, but it's important for him to get a hold of it first. The biggest mistake I made was trying to keep basketball as the priority. All the flags were around me. Life is bigger than the sport itself," four-time All-Star Baker said.

"When you have agents, fans, friends, family pushing basketball and all the other stuff gets kind of pushed under the rug when the signs are there that there is an issue. You got to make life the priority before someone else makes it a priority. When someone else makes it a priority, the disciplines, fines, whatever, at the end of the day, it means your life isn't the priority. It means that contract may be of importance."

Baker once confessed that he was a recovering alcoholic, and revealed that he turned to alcohol and went binge drinking when he played bad for the Boston Celtics after the 1998-99 season.

Lawson has two years and close to $26 million left on his current deal with the Nuggets.