TORONTO – A.J. Lawson has been living the dream this week. He had his first career NBA start on Friday, lining up for his hometown Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. Then on Monday, Lawson had his best game as a professional basketball player.
Lawson, from Brampton, Ont., was one of four Raptors to earn a double-double as Toronto routed the Washington Wizards 119-104. Lawson finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, both career 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 everything.
“It’s for the city, 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 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 next year. He played a season with the Guelph Nighthawks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League that summer, before joining the Dallas Mavericks’ summer league team.
Lawson also spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves before signing a two-way deal with the Raptors on Dec. 11.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
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 came into Toronto’s locker-room post-game.
“Just some Toronto slang,” laughed Lawson. “We from the city, just giving the Toronto culture some love and the Jamaican culture, for sure.
“Shout out to my teammates for just being good teammates, though. Everybody involved and everything.”
One teammate in particular 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 high school squad.
“They were all laughing at me because on one of (Lawson’s) threes (Jared) Rhoden was wide open in the corner, but A.J. was wide open in the other corner and A.J. had 27, so …” shrugged Barrett. “He made the shot and he got 30.
“I’m happy for him. A.J. is a guy who plays really hard, is really active, both ends of the floor, so it’s good to see a guy like that have a good game here.”
Lawson said he was grateful to be draining threes on passes from his childhood friend in the best basketball league in the world.
“Honestly, full circle to being on the same court as him, as a Raptor, both Canadians, what a blessing it is,” said Lawson. “The odds of that happening 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 four more points on Monday he would have become the highest-scoring player on a two-way contract in NBA/G-League history.
“It felt like the net just opened up,” he said after his 9 for 21 shooting performance that included seven three-pointers. “I just felt like every shot I was gonna shoot it was gonna go in.
“I’m not gonna get down if I missed a couple in a row. I’m just gonna keep shooting. Because I know the work that I put in.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press