Raptors Promoting A.J. Lawson To Two-Year Standard Deal

11:40am: Lawson’s salary for next season is fully non-guaranteed, according to Murphy (Twitter link).

11:14am: The Raptors are promoting A.J. Lawson from his two-way contract to a two-year standard deal, agents Todd Ramasar and Mike Simonetta tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

An Ontario native, Lawson signed a two-way contract with Toronto in December after spending training camp this past fall with Dallas. He has made 24 appearances for the Raptors thus far in 2024/25, averaging 8.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .428/.333/.620.

The Raptors waived center Orlando Robinson and sharpshooter Cole Swider on Thursday, creating a pair of openings on their standard roster. They will fill one of those vacancies by converting Lawson from his two-way contract. Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca reported yesterday that promoting Lawson was one option that Toronto was considering.

A 6’6″ wing, Lawson went undrafted in 2021 out of South Carolina. He spent his first professional season in the G League before catching on with Minnesota and then Dallas during the 2022/23 campaign. He spent all of ’23/24 with the Mavs, appearing in 42 games in a limited role off the bench.

Lawson opened ’24/25 suiting up for the G League’s Long Island Nets before signing with the Raptors. He was named to the NBAGL’s Up Next event — essentially its version of the All-Star Game — in late January. In 37 combined games (33.1 MPG) with Long Island and the Raptors 905 this season, the 24-year-old has averaged 20.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.5 APG and 1.3 SPG on .440/.361/.726 shooting.