Maxwell Lewis, who was shining in the Lithuanian Basketball League playoffs, has committed his future to Zalgiris Kaunas. The 23-year-old, 201 cm forward has signed a deal through the end of the 2028-29 season under a “2+1” structure, and in the upcoming season he will be loaned to the London Lions, coached by Tautvydas Sabonis.
After two seasons in college, Lewis was selected with the 40th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets, who immediately traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his very first NBA season, the forward shared the court with LeBron James and won the NBA in-season Cup with the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, in both his first and second NBA seasons, Lewis was regularly rotated between the NBA and the G League, before eventually being traded to the Brooklyn Nets. There, he spent the remainder of the 2024-25 season and appeared in 21 games, averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds.
Lewis began the 2025-26 season with Tofas Bursa, where he averaged 5.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and a 6.8 efficiency rating in the Basketball Champions League.
In March, the American joined Juventus Utena and became one of the key contributors to the club’s historic run – during the LKL finals series, he averaged 19.7 points and 23.3 efficiency rating.
Zalgiris sports director Gediminas Navickas also shared his thoughts on the club’s new long-term project:
“We see him as a player with EuroLeague-level tools who possesses the qualities required at that level: athleticism, length, and shooting. We believe he can improve defensively, and we have great trust, first of all, in Tautvydas Sabonis, who knows what a player needs to compete in the EuroLeague. We value his experience highly and believe that during this year with the London Lions, Maxwell can make significant progress and move even closer to the EuroLeague. We are ready to develop and invest,” said Navickas.
