Gamecocks guard AJ Lawson finds NBA home
Welcome to the NBA, A.J. Lawson.
Though he didn’t hear his name called in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, the South Carolina guard agreed to a free-agent deal with the Miami Heat, as first reported by ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski and made official Friday.
“Thank you @MiamiHEAT for an opportunity ... will not regret it,” Lawson posted to Twitter.
After sitting outside most top prospect lists, Lawson raised his stock in recent weeks. Coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 16.6 points per game, Lawson initially wasn’t invited to the NBA Draft Combine. But Lawson earned a combine invite after a strong showing at the NBA G League Elite Camp.
The athletic 6-foot-6 Lawson stacked up favorably among guards at the combine, ranking fourth in both max vertical leap and standing vertical and second in the shuttle run. In the last few weeks, Lawson worked his way into ESPN’s top 100 prospects list, sitting at No. 74 on draft night.
It looks like his professional career will start in the same manner as former Gamecock Michael Carrera, who went undrafted in 2016 before signing with the Heat and taking part in the NBA’s Summer League. This year’s Summer League starts Aug. 8 in Las Vegas.
Lawson will try to follow a similar path as past Gamecock stars like Sindarius Thornwell and P.J. Dozier, who have seen significant minutes in the NBA. Thornwell most recently played for the Orlando Magic, and Dozier has developed into a key rotational player for the Denver Nuggets, setting career highs in games, minutes and points per game last season.
Though Lawson’s time in Columbia didn’t include an NCAA tournament run, his legacy at South Carolina is secure. Lawson became the 47th Gamecock to score 1,000 career points last season, finishing his career with 1,153 points on 40.7% shooting from the field. He ranks eighth in program history with 164 3-pointers.
And while USC dealt with three separate COVID-19 shutdowns and struggled to field a full lineup throughout the season, Lawson started every game and was the team’s most consistent scorer.
“I feel like each year I’ve grown more and more,” Lawson said at the end of the year. “This year I’ve grown (a lot); we had to go through so much. Every Division I athlete who’s been through this COVID season — it’s hard. I feel like me sticking to the grind every day, trying to get better and still learning, I feel like that just shows how much I care for this game and how much I love it. It was hard, but I’ve been through it, lived through it.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 6:56 AM.
