TORONTO – A.J. Lawson has been living the dream this week. He had his first profession NBA start on Friday, lining up for his hometown Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. Then on Monday, Lawson had his best game as an expert basketball player.
Lawson, from Brampton, Ont., was certainly one of 4 Raptors to earn a double-double as Toronto routed the Washington Wizards 119-104. Lawson finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, each profession highs, off the bench.
“Probably been dreaming about this, who knows how long? Since I first touched the basketball?” said Lawson. “I mean, I’m a Toronto kid, grew up in Brampton. To have a performance like this, it just means every little thing.
“It’s for the town, for family, for the country. I mean, all glory to God. Couldn’t do it without Him.”
Lawson’s path to the NBA, and getting minutes together with his childhood team, was not direct.
He went undrafted out of South Carolina in 2021, then signed with the College Park Skyhawks, the G-League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks, the following 12 months. He played a season with the Guelph Nighthawks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League that summer, before joining the Dallas Mavericks’ summer league team.
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Lawson also hung out with the Minnesota Timberwolves before signing a two-way cope with the Raptors on Dec. 11.
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A raft of injuries to Toronto’s rotation has given Lawson increased playing time this week, but he said he’s felt valued by his Raptors and Raptors 905 teammates since joining the organization — including being greeted with a cheer of “real bad mon!” when he got here into Toronto’s locker-room post-game.
“Just a few Toronto slang,” laughed Lawson. “We from the town, just giving the Toronto culture some love and the Jamaican culture, needless to say.
“Shout out to my teammates for just being good teammates, though. Everybody involved and every little thing.”
One teammate particularly worked to get him the ball: RJ Barrett.
The pair grew up together, playing on the Brampton Warriors basketball club, their middle school team, and their highschool squad.
“They were all laughing at me because on certainly one of (Lawson’s) threes (Jared) Rhoden was wide open within the corner, but A.J. was wide open in the opposite corner and A.J. had 27, so …” shrugged Barrett. “He made the shot and he got 30.
“I’m blissful for him. A.J. is a man who plays really hard, is admittedly lively, each ends of the ground, so it’s good to see a man like which have game here.”
Lawson said he was grateful to be draining threes on passes from his childhood friend in the perfect basketball league on the earth.
“Truthfully, full circle to being on the identical court as him, as a Raptor, each Canadians, what a blessing it’s,” said Lawson. “The percentages of that occuring is rare.”
Lawson’s previous scoring high was on Dec. 23, 2023, when he had 17 points for Dallas in a 144-119 win over the San Antonio Spurs. If he had scored 4 more points on Monday he would have turn into the highest-scoring player on a two-way contract in NBA/G-League history.
“It felt like the web just opened up,” he said after his 9 for 21 shooting performance that included seven three-pointers. “I just felt like every shot I used to be gonna shoot it was gonna go in.
“I’m not gonna get down if I missed a pair in a row. I’m just gonna keep shooting. Because I do know the work that I put in.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
