3 Lakers Summer League sleepers who could earn minutes this season

No. 2 Los Angeles Lakers Summer League sleeper: Maxwell Lewis

Both of the Lakers’ draft picks are facing an uphill battle for playing time this season. Los Angeles’ guard rotation is stacked. D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Gabe Vincent all started for conference finals teams. LeBron James will get plenty of point guard reps. New arrivals Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince will eat into minutes on the wing.

Jalen Hood-Schifino was the No. 17 pick out of Indiana and he has been notably better through two Summer League games than Maxwell Lewis, the No. 40 pick out of Pepperdine. So, why is Lewis getting the nod here? Mostly for role and fit reasons. Hood-Schifino is an obvious talent, but his skill set doesn’t really serve much of an immediate purpose with Russell, Reaves, and Vincent soaking up minutes on the perimeter.

Lewis will have to work hard to prove that his skill set does serve an immediate purpose, but he’s the captain of his own destiny. Lewis has every physical tool: 6-foot-7 with long arms, good burst, and shifty stop-start handles. He’s a better 3-point shooter than Hood-Schifino and he showed great promise attacking off the catch at Pepperdine.

The hangup with Lewis before the draft — and why he fell all the way to No. 40 despite possessing the talent of a first-round pick — was his lack of success at Pepperdine. The Waves were bad last season in a weak conference, and Lewis’ effort frequently wavered. He didn’t always look invested in winning. He will have to bolster his consistency and ratchet up the effort to have success in the NBA, but the Lakers would certainly have use for a lanky shooter who can handle the rock and create off drives to the cup.