He rose to prominence in the NBA as a scorer with the Seattle SuperSonics, and was later a member of the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat.

[1] Despite being recruited by Florida State, Kansas and Houston, Lewis bypassed college and opted for the 1998 NBA draft, wherein he was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 32nd overall pick.

[4] In 2001, Lewis was selected to play for the United States Basketball Team in the Goodwill Games, in which they won the gold medal.

On October 31, 2003, Lewis scored a career-high 50 points to lead the Seattle SuperSonics to a 124–105 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to close out a two-game series in Saitama, Japan.

[6] After playing his first nine seasons for the Seattle SuperSonics, Lewis joined the Orlando Magic in July 2007, as he agreed to a six-year sign-and-trade deal worth $118 million.

On June 20, 2012, Lewis was traded, along with the 46th pick in the 2012 NBA draft, to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor.

Lewis earned rave reviews from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra for the way he defended in Game 3 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, even though he finished without a single point, rebound, assist or steal.

Lewis worked his way into the starting lineup during the series, earning notoriety for helping the team despite a lack of impressive box score statistics in games 3 and 4.