Maxwell Lewis, who was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft, has officially signed a contract with Tofaş, a prominent basketball team based in Turkey, as confirmed by the club in a recent press release.
Although this signing actually took place back in July, the news unfortunately flew under the radar and wasn’t reported immediately. Despite the delay of a few weeks, we feel it’s important to highlight this next chapter in Lewis’s professional basketball journey.
The player was picked 40th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft and has spent the last two seasons competing at the NBA level, making this move abroad a significant step in his career.
Coming out of Pepperdine University, Lewis entered the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, where his rookie season saw limited playing time. He appeared in 34 NBA games but totaled just 103 minutes on the court, often coming in during non-critical moments of the game.
However, Lewis saw much more opportunity in the G League with the South Bay Lakers, where he showcased his talents over 28 games during the 2023-2024 season.
There, he averaged a solid 14.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game while playing nearly 29 minutes each contest.
Standing 6 feet 7 inches tall, Lewis continued to split time between the NBA and G League to start the 2024-2025 season, logging seven appearances with Los Angeles and 10 more for South Bay.
His trajectory shifted in December when he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a multi-player deal involving D’Angelo Russell and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Lewis’s time with Brooklyn was unfortunately hampered by injury; he fractured his tibia during his debut game with the Nets, which limited him to just 21 games.
Despite the setback, he put up respectable numbers when healthy, averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game, shooting efficiently with a .422 field goal percentage, .380 from three-point range, and .700 from the free-throw line.
In June, the Nets decided to waive Lewis prior to his 2025-2026 salary becoming guaranteed.
Though waived, Lewis did secure a small partial guarantee for his minimum salary for the upcoming season, resulting in a $100,000 salary cap hit for Brooklyn after his release.
Tofaş’s roster includes other notable names such as former NBA first-round pick Anzejs Pasecniks and New York Knicks’ draft-and-stash prospect Hugo Besson.
The club competes in the highly competitive Turkish Basketball Super League, offering Lewis a strong platform to further develop his career internationally.
Maxwell Lewis To Play In Turkey In 2025/26 https://t.co/FmoBRFk0Gb pic.twitter.com/CnSYm8cLgT
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) August 8, 2025
