DJ Steward (born October 2, 2001) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Maine Celtics The Maine Celtics (formerly the Maine Red Claws) are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo B ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

. He was a consensus five-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * ''Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (En ...

and one of the best

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

s in the 2020 class. He finished his high school career at

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (locally known simply as Whitney Young) is a public magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Whitney Young is operated by the Chicago ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

High school career

Steward first attended Fenwick High School in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated in ...

. In 2018, he transferred to Whitney Young High School in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois for his remaining years of high school. Steward averaged 24.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in the 2019 Nike EYBL circuit. In the Highland Shootout versus Christian Brothers College High School in January 2020, Steward scored a shootout-high 40 points including the game-tying bucket in a 66–64 victory. He was named a McDonald's All-American.

Recruiting

On September 18, 2019, Steward committed to play at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. He chose the Blue Devils over offers from DePaul,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, Louisville,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

College career

Steward started 22 games and played in 24 games during Duke's 2020–21 season. A combo guard, he averaged 13 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. The Duke team finished that season 13–11, with a 9–9 record in the ACC. It was the first year since 1995 that the Blue Devils were not invited to the NCAA tournament. While the season did not live up to Duke's usual expectations, Steward had multiple highlights during his only year on the team. In his college debut on November 28, 2020, Steward scored 24 points in an 81–71 win against

Coppin State Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

. On December 21, 2020, Steward was named

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

rookie of the week. On January 15, 2021, Steward scored 26 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in a 79–68 win over Wake Forest.

Professional career

Stockton Kings (2021–2023)

After a very successful freshman season at Duke, Steward debated going professional. At , Steward was seen as having a shooting guard's skills in a point guard's body, and this led to a sense that he would need to develop point guard skills before he could effectively play in the NBA. Nevertheless, he decided to make himself available for the NBA draft. After going undrafted in the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

, Steward was invited to the Sacramento Kings for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

. On September 28, 2021, he signed a contract with the Kings. He was waived prior to the start of the season. Steward signed with the

Stockton Kings The Stockton Kings are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Stockton, California, and are affiliated with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings play their home games at the Stockton Arena and compete in the G League' ...

of the

as an affiliate player for the 2021–22 season.

Vancouver Bandits (2023)

On April 6, 2023, Steward signed with the Vancouver Bandits of the

Canadian Elite Basketball League The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a men's professional minor league basketball organization. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams competing all owned and operated by ownership group Canadian Basketball ...

. He was released by the Bandits on June 5 in order to prepare for the

2023 NBA Summer League The 2023 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K24'' Summer League 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, ...

, where he would play for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

Maine Celtics (2023–present)

On October 2, 2023, Steward signed with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, but was waived on October 20. On October 28, 2023, Steward was added to the training camp roster with the

Career statistics

College

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Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

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Personal life

Steward is the son of Katicha Jackson-Williams and Danny Boy Steward, and stepson of Tyrone Williams. He is named after his father, who was a former

Death Row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

recording artist. He also played football in high school, and has a brother, Trent. Steward grew up in Oak Park, Illinois where he attended Brooks Middle School. He attended Fenwick his freshman and sophomore years, then transferred to Whitney Young for his last two years. He played travel ball since his middle school years with Meanstreets and played EYBL circuit, where he made an even bigger name for himself.

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steward, D. J. 2001 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Maine Celtics players McDonald's High School All-Americans Shooting guards Stockton Kings players Vancouver Bandits players