2023 Draft Workouts

Wheat Hotchkiss

Pacers VP of Player Personnel Ryan Carr spoke to media following the end of this year's pre-draft workouts.

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Indiana Pacers Pre-Draft Workouts: Ryan Carr Media Availability (June 19, 2023)

Pepperdine guard Maxwell Lewis sat down to talk about what teams can expect from him when drafted and who who models his game after. Pacers draft coverage is presented by NerdWallet.

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Indiana Pacers Pre-Draft Workouts: Maxwell Lewis One-on-One Interview (June 19, 2023)

Dayton forward Toumani Camara spoke to media following his pre-draft workout on Monday.

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Indiana Pacers Pre-Draft Workouts: Toumani Camara Media Availability (June 19, 2023)

Pepperdine guard Maxwell Lewis spoke to media following his pre-draft workout on Monday.

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Indiana Pacers Pre-Draft Workouts: Maxwell Lewis Media Availability (June 19, 2023)

The Pacers will hold their 16th pre-draft workout in preparation for the 2023 NBA Draft on Monday, June 19 at the Ascension St. Vincent Center.

Monday's workout group will be an individual workout with Dayton forward Toumani Camara and Pepperdine guard Maxwell Lewis.

The Pacers own five picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, which will be held on June 22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, including three in the first round. Indiana has the seventh, 26th, and 29th, 32nd, and 55th overall selections.

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Pacers to Hold 16th Pre-Draft Workout on Monday, June 19

Height: 6-7Weight: 207Position: GCollege: PepperdineAge: 20

2022-23 Season StatsPPG: 17.1RPG: 5.7APG: 2.8BLK: 0.8STL: 0.8

Player BioCourtesy of Pepperdine Athletics

PEPPERDINE 2022-23:&nbsp;Played and started in all 31 games during his sophomore campaign … Led the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game, shooting 46.8% from the field and 34.8% from beyond the arc … Gathered 5.7 rebounds per contest and dished out 2.8 assists per game … Named to the&nbsp;All-WCC Second Team&nbsp;and was awarded the&nbsp;WCC Player of the Week&nbsp;(12/27) … Scored 20+ points in 13 games, including a stretch of seven-straight contests scoring 20 or more … Recorded a career-high 30 points against Northern Arizona (12/3) and again against Pacific (1/7) … Pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds against Pacific (1/7).PEPPERDINE 2021-22:&nbsp;Named to the&nbsp;WCC All-Freshman team&nbsp;... Averaged 11.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes ... Played in 21 games and started two ... Missed the first six games waiting on NCAA eligibility ... Missed the final five games after suffering a season-ending wrist injury ... Scored in double-figures 10 times, including three 20-point games ... Averaged 12.5 points in league play ... Had a season-high 27 points vs. Westmont (12/23), which ranks eighth on Pepperdine’s freshman single-game scoring list ... Had 26 points (and a season-high 10 rebounds) at Pacific (2/3), which ranks tied for 10th on the freshman scoring list ... Also had 22 points in the following game vs. Pacific (2/5) ... Other season highs were four steals at Gonzaga (1/8), four three-pointers at Pacific (2/3), three assists (several times), two blocks (twice) and 29 minutes (twice).HIGH SCHOOL:&nbsp;Graduated from AZ Compass Prep, located in Chandler, Ariz., in 2021 ... Gave up his senior year of high school basketball to train for the 2021 NBA Draft, but later elected to go to college ... A four-star recruit who at one time was rated among the nation’s top 100 players in the class of 2021 ... According to 247 Sports, he is the second highest-rated recruit the Waves have signed in the last 15+ years (only Tyrone Shelley in 2007 was higher) ... Averaged 14.5 points at AZ Compass Prep as a 2019-20 junior ... Also attended Clark High School and the Somerset Academy in Las Vegas.CLUB:&nbsp;Competed with Dream Vision ... Won championships in 2021 at the 3-Stripes Select Basketball and Las Vegas Summer Champions events ... Was MVP in Las Vegas.PERSONAL:&nbsp;Born in Las Vegas, Nev. ... Son of Robert Lewis and Jennifer Lewis ... Has five siblings: Mario, Myloe, Marcus, Monique and Gabby ... Marcus played football at Iowa State, Monique ran track at UNLV and Myloe played football at Victory Valley College ... An amateur boxer and accomplished saxophonist ... Chose Pepperdine because “there’s a great coaching staff and I love the style of play.”FAVORITES:&nbsp;Enjoys thrifting and playing 2K ... Favorites include Kobe Bryant (pro basketball player), the Los Angeles Lakers (pro basketball team), Creed (movie), Squid Game (TV show), chicken and waffles (food) and track (sport other than basketball) ... Favorite thing about basketball is “hearing the crowd after a big dunk.”

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Maxwell Lewis: 2023 Draft Prospect

You can never have enough shooting in today's NBA. Gradey Dick — a 6-8 guard out of Kansas who worked out for the Pacers on Thursday — is arguably the best shooter in this year's draft class.

The 19-year-old wing was a decorated player in high school, where he was a McDonald's All-American and a two-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year. He lived up to the hype in his lone collegiate season.

Dick played a major role in the Jayhawks capturing the 2022-23 Big 12 regular season title. The freshman finished second on the team in scoring (14.1 points per game), third in rebounding (5.1), and third in steals (1.4).

But most importantly, he was extremely efficient, shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range on nearly six attempts per game and 85.4 percent from the free throw line. He set a school record for most 3-pointers made by a freshman (83) and was named to the All-Big 12 second team as well as the conference's All-Freshman Team.

His consistency as a freshman playing for a high-profile program with high expectations bodes well for his transition to the NBA. Dick has ideal shooting form — a high and quick release that makes it difficult to block or contest — and should be able to plug in right away as a floor-spacing 3-point threat in the pro game.

Shooting is Dick's bread and butter, so it's only natural that he studies the best shooters in NBA history. Even though he wasn't born until 2003, Dick still has spent plenty of time watching tape of Pacers Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was the first player he named at last month's NBA Draft Combine when asked which players he models his game after.

"I think one of the most underrated parts of (his game) — guys like him, Steph Curry — is their conditioning," Dick said on Thursday following his workout at the Ascension St. Vincent Center. "Everyone just sees them making shots, but it's the stuff (that) a lot of people don't really look too close into, just the way they're running up and down the court non-stop, exhausting the defense and being exhausted themselves but still being able to get shots open and make them at crunch time."

Because of his shooting prowess, Dick is a projected lottery pick. He has been doing solo pre-draft workouts with several teams picking in the lottery, including the Pacers, who have the seventh overall pick in this year's draft, which will be held next Thursday (June 22) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

His shooting alone should allow Dick to enjoy a long career in the NBA. An apt comparison might be Kyle Korver, another highly efficient shooter with similar size and a quick release. Korver spent 17 seasons in the NBA and still ranks fifth in league history with 2,450 career made threes.

But teams will want to know what else Dick is capable of doing at the next level. He works best off the ball and likely won't be a primary ball-handler. And because he's not an explosive athlete who measures off the charts, there are questions about how well he will be able to hold up defensively against NBA wings.

Dick said on Thursday that he knows his role is going to primarily be to do what he does best and space the floor, but that he also believes he is capable of making other contributions on the offensive end.

Because the NBA game is built more around spacing and there is a defensive three seconds penalty that prevents players from camping out in the lane like they can in college, Dick actually believes he can be more effective getting to the rim than he was in college. His shooting is such a threat that he should be able to get overeager defenders to bite on occasional pump-fakes or slip by them with a backdoor cut.

Defensively, Dick maintains he will be able to hold up on that end. He did force nearly a steal and a half per game in college and showed off some speed at the combine, where he tied for the fastest time in the shuttle run at 2.98 seconds.

"Just letting my length work for me," Dick said of the keys to being successful on defense. "I have a pretty lengthy wingspan at my size. I think that will help me just being active on the defensive end.

"A big part of that more than anything else is just the mindset to want to go out and play defense. I feel like I have that. I want to go and take any challenge head on. I'm not going to shy away from anything."

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Indiana Pacers Pre-Draft Workouts: Gradey Dick One-on-One Interview (June 15, 2023)

Dick is a competitor, someone who is going to work his tail off to get open looks on offense and stick with his man on defense. But just as importantly, he is keenly aware of his strengths and what role he'll be asked to play. He made it clear on Thursday that he is a player who is going to “not try to be anything that he's not."

Dick's mother, Carmen, had quite the basketball career herself. She averaged 40 points per game as a senior in high school and went on to score over 1,000 career points at Iowa State. Dick credits his mom for teaching him his high release at a young age, though he's also quick to point out that she was a post player who never attempted a three so he has the deeper range.

Dick's draft range is wide enough that he could end up in a number of different settings. As a shooter, though, there aren't many better fits than Indiana, which he called "super intriguing" in large part because of the Pacers' resident All-Star, Tyrese Haliburton.

The 23-year-old Haliburton finished second in the NBA in assists last season, averaging a franchise-record 10.4 per game. The Blue & Gold's sharpshooters benefitted greatly from playing alongside Haliburton. Buddy Hield shattered the franchise record with 288 3-pointers and six Pacers (including Haliburton himself) made 90 or more threes.

"You've got a point guard (that's) one of the best point guards in the league with Tyrese," Dick said. "My play style, I play best where I can kind of play off point guards (like I did) back at Kansas with Dajuan (Harris Jr.)...You put a point guard like that with me, I feel like it can be a fun way to play for sure."

Dick does have a tie already to the current Pacers, as he attended Sunrise Christian Academy with Kendall Brown, who just finished his rookie season in Indiana on a two-way contract (Hield is also a Sunrise Christian alum). Dick met up with Brown after arriving in Indianapolis on Wednesday and the two teammates caught up and went to a movie theater to see "The Boogeyman."

Dick also had dinner on Wednesday night with Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard, a fellow Jayhawk who was on Kansas' 1988 national championship team.

Kansas was always the dream school for Dick, who grew up in Wichita, but he's also had another dream on his mind: making it to the NBA. In just one week, that dream is going to come true.

Dick is still struggling to wrap his head around that.

"I've been thinking about this moment since I first started playing basketball," he said. "It's been the dream since day one. It's hard to say (what it will feel like). It's going to be just raw emotions that come out. I'm looking forward to it."

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Gradey Dick Shows Off Sharpshooting Skills for Pacers

Kansas guard Gradey Dick sits down to discuss his admiration for Reggie Miller, how he could fit in with the Pacers, and his emotions being a week away from draft night. Pacers draft coverage is presented by NerdWallet.