Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas is close to an agreement with former NBA wing Maxwell Lewis, who finished the 2025/26 season with Juventus Utena, BasketNews reports.
Lewis is expected to sign a multiyear contract but he would be loaned in the first year to another team, most likely the London Lions. The 23-year-old Lewis averaged 13.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists last season with Juventus in 22 games. He also played 22 games with Turkey’s Tofas before parting ways with that club in March.
Lewis was selected 40th overall in the 2023 draft and spent two seasons in the NBA. Drafted out of Pepperdine, Lewis began his professional career with the Lakers, but logged just 103 total minutes in 34 appearances at the NBA level as a rookie, playing primarily in garbage time. The 6’7″ forward played in seven more games for Los Angeles during the 2024/25 season before being dealt to the Nets. Lewis was limited to 21 appearances for Brooklyn after fracturing his tibia in his first game as a Net. He averaged 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game.
Zalgiris is also finalizing an agreement with former NBA guard Carsen Edwards, according to BasketNews. Edwards spent the 2025/26 season with Virtus Bologna, averaging 17.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists in 25 minutes per game in the EuroLeague. Edwards logged 72 games in the NBA, mainly with Boston.
Here’s more from around the international basketball world:
- Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Isaiah Hartenstein and Fred VanVleet are some of the big-name players who have options on their contracts for next season. What will happen with their contractual situations? The Athletic’s John Hollinger makes his prediction for each of these decisions, as well as several other players with partial guarantees or options.
- The look of a championship team has evolved, Hollinger opines in a separate piece. He notes that the model of having a dominant regular season built around a superstar is no longer the blueprint. While superstars always matter, teams that have a strong overall lineup are increasingly emerging as true contenders. That’s due to defenses switching nearly everything and offenses hunting matchup advantages. Having the least-bad weakest link can and does matter as much as, or even more than, having the best superstar, Hollinger adds.
- Want to own a piece of BIG3? You may soon get your wish. The league, co-founded by rapper Ice Cube, is eyeing a $290MM valuation as it plans to go public later this year, according to ESPN. The league announced Friday that it will offer fans a chance to buy stock in the league. They are targeting an offering on one of the major stock exchanges in the fourth quarter of 2026 under the ticker TONT (short for 3-on-3). The BIG3 is starting its ninth season next week in Los Angeles.
Isn’t IHart a team option?
Yes, you’re right.
Come on now every one of them with pick up their option year. Most player options are there for a reason as a insurance year for them. In case of a injury or a downward spiral in worth they can still make a good pay day.
Funny. I saw another article that found shorter lineups had more success against Wemby. So, I guess small ball hasn’t gone away. Skills are more important than height.
You still need 1 tall guy that blocks out Wemby from rebounds. Knicks been blocking out Wemby from rebounds is why they been successful.
Small ball doesn’t mean you can’t have tall players. It just means they need to be more skilled and athletic. Don Nelson almost always had tall players. He is the father of small ball.
That’s why the Warriors really need to resign Charles Bassey. He is not a deep threat. But, he is athletic, great hands, does the dirty work and he’ll cost like maybe $2-3million. Definitely a value.
Definitely riding w/ my Atl guys Dwight Howard & Joe Johnson to meet in the Final this season in the Big3. Still arguably the 2 best players in the league, even while being amongst the oldest guys in the leage. On the subject, USA Basketball gotta do something about their men’s 3×3 program. Frankly been terrible ever since int’l 3×3 been a thing. I can’t think of any excuse for why this is the case. Jimmer Fredette needs to set a meeting w/ Cube & co asap to see how he can get some help improving his product. Meanwhile Cube & co obviously would be greatly benefited by partnering w/ the NBA in any way possible. As soon as the Big3 is partnered/on the same page as the NBA their value will skyrocket & it should benefit the game in general a lot…
link to youtube.com