Anthony Randolph "A. J." Lawson (born July 15, 2000) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Texas Legends of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Early life and high school career

Lawson grew up in Brampton, Ontario and attended GTA Prep in

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

, a basketball academy based out of

Mississauga Secondary School Mississauga Secondary School (MSS) is a public high school located in Mississauga, Ontario. It operates under the Peel District School Board. Description Mississauga Secondary School offers a full range of courses providing all students the oppo ...

where he was coached by David Cooper. In his senior season, Lawson was named an National Preparatory Association First Team All-Star and led the team to second place in the NPA championships. Originally set to graduate in 2019 and ranked 40th in his class by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

as well as fourth-best Canadian prospect by ''North Pole Hoops'', Lawson reclassified for the class of 2018. Lawson committed to playing college basketball for South Carolina over offers from Tulane and Creighton. South Carolina head coach Frank Martin began recruiting Lawson after a late night workout in Columbia on the trip back from a tournament.

College career

Lawson averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in 29 games played and was named to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Freshman team. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on November 19, 2018 after averaging 15.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists over a three-game stretch against

Norfolk State Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

and

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

. Following the season he initially entered his name into the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

, but decided to withdraw and return to South Carolina for his sophomore season. Lawson was named to the preseason first team All-SEC and to the Jerry West Award watchlist going into his sophomore year. He was also named the 41st-best collegiate basketball player going into the 2019–20 season by CBS Sports and the 29th-best prospect for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

by ESPN. Lawson scored a season-high 28 points on November 15, 2019 in a 90–63 win against

Cleveland State Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

. Lawson led the team during the season in total points with 416 and points per game at 13.4 while also averaging 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Following the season, he declared for the 2020 NBA draft but did not hire an agent. Lawson decided to withdraw from the draft and return to South Carolina on July 29. On January 6, 2021, Lawson scored a career-high 30 points in a 78–54 win over Texas A&M. As a junior, he averaged 16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He was named to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Second Team. On April 19, 2021, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

and signed an agent.

Professional career

College Park Skyhawks (2021–2022)

After going undrafted in the

, Lawson joined the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

. On September 22, 2021, Lawson signed with the Atlanta Hawks. However, he was waived on October 7. In October 2021, Lawson signed with the College Park Skyhawks where he played 26 games and averaged 11.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 48.1% from the field.

Guelph Nighthawks (2022)

On April 26, 2022, Lawson signed with the Guelph Nighthawks of the

CEBL The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a men's professional minor league basketball organization. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams competing all owned and operated by ownership group Canadian Basketball V ...

Minnesota Timberwolves / Return to College Park (2022)

Lawson joined the

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

. In five games, he averaged 15.6 points and 6.0 rebounds, while shooting 51.9% from the field. Later, on July 19, 2022, Lawson signed a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves. On October 15, 2022, Lawson was waived by the Timberwolves. On November 3, 2022, Lawson was named to the opening night roster for the College Park Skyhawks. On November 16, Lawson signed another two-way contract with the Timberwolves, but was waived on December 8. Two days later, he returned to College Park.

Dallas Mavericks (2022–present)

On December 26, 2022, Lawson signed a two-way contract with the

, splitting time with their NBA G League affiliate, the Texas Legends.

National team career

Lawson has competed internationally for the

Canada men's national under-19 basketball team The Canadian men's national under-19 basketball team represents Canada in international under-18 and under-19 (under age 18 and under age 19) basketball competitions. They are overseen by Canada Basketball, the governing body for basketball in Can ...

. He averaged 14.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in the

2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship The 2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship was an international under-18 basketball tournament that was held from 10 to 16 June 2018 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The eleventh edition of the biennial competition, this is also the qualifyi ...

as Canada finished second in the tournament. Lawson posted team highs with 18 points and 12 rebounds in Canada's 113–74 loss to the United States in the tournament final. In the

2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο Μπάσκετ FIBA Under-19 2019) was the 14th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball championshi ...

, Lawson averaged a team-best 16.7 points with 3.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in seven games as Canada advanced to the quarterfinals. He also had the highest scoring performance of the tournament with a 31-point game against Senegal. Lawson made his debut with Canada's senior men's national team during the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Minnesota , 1 , , 0 , , 1.8 , , 1.000 , , , , , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1 , , 0 , , 1.8 , , 1.000 , , , , , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", South Carolina , 29 , , 28 , , 29.9 , , .411 , , .358 , , .667 , , 4.3 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", South Carolina , 31 , , 31 , , 29.1 , , .414 , , .339 , , .724 , , 3.7 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", South Carolina , 21 , , 21 , , 31.3 , , .394 , , .351 , , .700 , , 4.1 , , 1.2 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 16.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 81 , , 80 , , 30.0 , , .407 , , .349 , , .697 , , 4.0 , , 2.1 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 14.2

References

External links

South Carolina Gamecocks bioRealGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, A. J. 2000 births Living people Basketball players from Toronto Black Canadian basketball players Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players College Park Skyhawks players Guelph Nighthawks players Iowa Wolves players Minnesota Timberwolves players Shooting guards South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball players Sportspeople from Brampton Undrafted National Basketball Association players