International prospect Malique Lewis will withdraw from the draft and return to play for the South East Melbourne Phoenix as part of Australia’s NBL Next Stars program, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets.
Lewis was considered a potential second-round pick. He was ranked No. 67 overall on ESPN’s Best Available list.
A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Lewis is a 6’8” wing with a 7’1” wingspan. He’ll try to improve his draft stock for 2026 in the Next Stars program.
The 20-year-old Lewis moved to Spain as a 16-year-old to play for Fuenlabrada in the Liga ACB for two seasons. He joined the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League for the 2023/24 season, where he played in 50 games and averaged 8.3 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Lewis signed with South East Melbourne last summer and averaged 6.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game last season.
Those stats scream out he needs a lot of work to do.
I watch NBL. He was on a good team, playing behind former NBA players Matthew Hurt, Derrick Walton and Joe Weiskamp. They were trying to win a title and don’t play the young guys as much as one might think. Lewis is an excellent athlete and can get to the rim whenever he wants. He’s just raw and needs more minutes.
Sounds like he made the right decision to not be drafted and play more. He needs to play a lot of minutes and get better.