Maxwell Lewis has pushed through adversity at Pepperdine
Editor’s note: The Los Angeles Lakers selected W Maxwell Lewis with the No. 40 pick in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft on June 22.
MALIBU, Calif. (BVM) — Pepperdine’s Maxwell Lewis grew up with five siblings – three brothers and two sisters. He was the only son not to play football. Instead, he would go outside his Las Vegas home and shoot on the basketball hoop that the previous owner left behind.
This is where he found admiration for the simplicity of the jump shot. The ball leaving the fingertips, arcing in the air, and hearing the swoosh of the net as it goes through the hoop.
“I just fell in love with it since then,” Lewis said.
From those days on, Lewis knew he wanted to give it his all to have a chance at a basketball career.
2 years ago today, unseen footage Maxwell Lewis
at the #WerkClub pic.twitter.com/4DMrO62rTs— Karlton Grant (@kg_werk_) February 2, 2023
He and his family decided to go the prep route when he got older. He began to play at Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona, about five hours southeast of his hometown.
The move paid off in a big way, as Lewis emerged as a four–star prospect according to 247 Sports.
For his senior year, the plan was to go pro with the new Chameleon BX program founded by Frank Matrisciano, but it essentially folded in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately for Lewis, this happened later in the recruiting cycle.
He began to play AAU ball the summer prior to his freshman year of college in hopes to find a new home. There were a lot of unknowns for his future, but then he found Pepperdine.
“I took an official (visit) and this was the best place for me at the time,” Lewis said. “It was the best decision of my life.”
He signed with the Waves on July 27, just before the start of the academic year.
Lewis became a big contributor almost right away, averaging 11 points while shooting 36.3% from 3 in his 21 games as a freshman.
Now as a sophomore, Lewis has exploded on the scene, and NBA teams are taking notice. The 6-foot-7 forward is averaging 18.7 points while shooting 40% from 3 this season.
maxwell lewis w/ the left-left sneaky lay up. this is ELITE skill work right here! #nbadraft #ncaambb #cbb #wcc pic.twitter.com/eP7Uuxr0G1
— Coach P (@Pnewt0n) January 30, 2023
He has played his way into being a potential lottery pick in the upcoming draft. In Yahoo’s Krysten Peek’s latest mock draft, she has the mid-major phenom landing just outside the lottery at pick No. 15 to the Atlanta Hawks.
But for Lewis, it is just noise.
“If anything, it motivates me a little bit more,” Lewis said. “Whatever I’m doing, I’m being watched more, my game is being watched more. I kind of like the attention. But it’s not changing anything for me and the team.”
Despite his success in Malibu, Lewis does not really feel like he has accomplished anything yet. But one thing he is proud of is his adjustment in the classroom.
After basically taking off from academics as a senior, he jumped right back into the thick of it as a freshman at the prestigious Pepperdine. But Lewis was able to hold his own.
“Just finishing the first, second semester of school and being eligible was a big accomplishment,” Lewis said. “When I first got here, I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to play because the school work was too hard. That was a big stepping stone.”
The next stepping stone for him on the court will be helping to turn around Pepperdine’s season. The West Coast Conference tournament begins on March 2 and Lewis would love nothing more than to win big with the Wave in his hometown of Las Vegas.
If he can do that, he should have no problem achieving his personal goal of becoming a top-20 pick in the NBA Draft.
