The following is part of Raptors Republic’s series of pieces reviewing the season for the Toronto Raptors. You can find all the pieces in the series here.
Back in December, Toronto took a chance on a relatively unknown name for those who don’t follow the Canadian basketball scene. Even though the Raptors were struggling to win and had a ton of injuries, it still took A.J. Lawson some time to find consistent playing time.
Before we dive into how Lawson’s season went, let’s check out his journey through Basketball since he was a relatively unknown and young player. Lawson is a Toronto native and was born in Brampton. He attended both St. Marguerite d’Youville (Brampton) and GTA Prep (Mississauga). His play in high school impressed a few colleges as he got offers from Tulane, Creighton and South Carolina. Ultimately, he decided to go with South Carolina. Lawson was a Gamecock from 2018 until 2021, when he decided to declare for the NBA Draft. Unfortunately, he went undrafted. He started off with the College Park Skyhawks (Atlanta Hawks G-League affiliate) and had two stints with them from 2021 to 2022. After his first stint with the Skyhawks, Lawson decided to become a Nighthawk, joining Guelph in the CEBL League. After another short stay, Lawson got his first break with a two-way contract from the Minnesota Timberwolves. He mostly served for their G-League team, but he did manage to make his NBA debut on November 16, 2022, when the Timberwolves blew out the Magic 126-108. He was only given two minutes, but he made his first basket with his lone shot of the game. Just over a month later, the Dallas Mavericks decided to take a chance on Lawson and brought him in with a two-way contract of their own. He featured in 14 games for them, averaging 7.6 minutes that season with 3.9 points per game. He played in 42 games for Dallas in the following season, but in very limited minutes again, averaging just 7.4 minutes. Again, that didn’t end up sticking, and Lawson was waived yet again. He was named to the training camp roster for the Long Island Nets (Brooklyn Nets G-League affiliate) and made the team as he was averaging an impressive 24 points per game with them before finally landing in Toronto on December 11, 2024.
Initially, it was a two-way contract agreed upon between Toronto and Lawson. Although it was a struggle to find playing time with the Raptors at first, Lawson was thrown into the fire right away with the 905. He impressed in a 27-minute debut with a 21-point outing on an impressive 58.3 percent field goal percentage just two days after signing his two-way contract with Toronto (December 13). He ended the G-League season with 23 games played, averaging 19 points on 43.4 percent shooting, along with 37.9 three-point percentage, 64.8 free throw percentage, while also posting 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
For the Raptors, Lawson appeared in five games from December 2024 all the way to March 2nd. He was only given 15 minutes in total over those five games, so it was still a mystery what he could do against NBA talent. On March 2 against the Orlando Magic, he almost put up the infamous cardio statline of all zeros across the board in fourteen minutes of action. He ended up with two missed field goals and a turnover, but he was a +16 in the game. Just two days after, against Orlando again, he had his first really impressive showing as he scored 13 points on just one missed shot. Just six days after that, Lawson had a career high of 32 points and 12 rebounds in a win against the Washington Wizards.
He then followed it up with two more great performances as he dropped 28 points against the Philadelphia 76ers in the following game and 18 points against the Utah Jazz to finish an impressive three-game stretch.
Although he had some huge scoring outbursts in March, April was his most consistent month and surprisingly, his best scoring month too. Across seven games, Lawson averaged 12.6 points, on 51.8 percent shooting, 4.1 rebounds and a steal per game. The most points he scored in a game in April was only 14, but he was very consistent as he only had one single-digit points outing against the Detroit Pistons when he scored 9 points.
Lawson’s hard work and dedication finally paid off, as he was given a two-year standard contract on April 11. He’s been bouncing around organizations quite a bit, but it looks like he might finally have found a home in his hometown.
