Wooddale's Johnathan Lawson named Gatorade Tennessee boys basketball player of the year

Wooddale's Johnathan Lawson has been named Gatorade Tennessee basketball player of the year, the company announced.

"It feels great because winning this award, you see that you're one of the top players in the United States for this year," Lawson said. 

It's the second straight year a Memphis player has won the award and the fifth out of the last six with East's James Wiseman (2019), Cordova's Tyler Harris (2017) and East's Alex Lomax (2016) and Hamilton's Dedric Lawson (2015).

The 6-foot-7 junior averaged a Shelby County-best 25.4 points along with 11.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists. He won the TSSAA Class AA Mr. Basketball award earlier this month. 

He led Wooddale to its second consecutive state Class AA state tournament appearance and a 27-6 record. But the state tournament has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. 

"It was tough, but it's about safety first," Lawson said. "I still wanted to finish what we started because we were going for back-to-back championships at Wooddale. I feel bad for our seniors because it might have been their last chance. I hope we get a chance to play again." 

Lawson is the No. 5 junior in Tennessee and the No. 88 junior in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite. He has offers from Vanderbilt, Alabama, Missouri and LSU among others. 

He's the youngest of the four Lawson brothers. Dedric Lawson, who is currently with the Austin Spurs of the NBA G-League, won the award in 2015. KJ Lawson played at Memphis and Kansas before transferring to Tulane this season. Chandler Lawson, who led Wooddale to the state title last year, just wrapped up his freshman year at Oregon. 

"It comes with bragging rights, being able to say that you've won Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year," Lawson said.