DJ Steward was a five-star recruit and McDonald's All-American out of Chicago in 2020. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 13.0 points and 1.1 steals per game as a Duke basketball one-and-done and full-time starter for the 2020-21 Blue Devils, the program's only squad this century to come up short of an NCAA Tournament invite.
Despite his promising stats as a college rookie, he went undrafted. And the 22-year-old has still never played in an NBA regular season game.
But Steward will get another chance to impress folks in the league, as he's set to play for his hometown Chicago Bulls at the NBA 2K25 Summer League in Las Vegas, July 12-22.
Their first outing is against the Milwaukee Bucks on July 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV).
Chicago Bulls 2024 Summer League Roster 🔥👀
— BullsMuse (@BullsMuse_) July 5, 2024
Matas Buzelis (Rookie - Ignite)
DJ Steward (Maine Celtics)
Julian Phillips (Chicago Bulls)
Adama Sanogo (Chicago Bulls)
Henri Drell (Chicago Bulls)
Andrew Funk (Chicago Bulls)
Javonte Smart (KK Crvena Zvezda 🇷🇸)
Dereon Seaborn (New… pic.twitter.com/GQEKF3MyO2
It won't be DJ Steward's first time participating in Summer League action. He was with the Sacramento Kings in July 2021 and the following year before hopping on board with the Philadelphia 76ers last go-round, including one blistering 36-point outing.
DJ Steward today against the New Orleans Pelicans in Summer League
— No Ceilings (@NoCeilingsNBA) July 16, 2023
▫️36 PTS
▫️5 REB
▫️6 AST
▫️1 STL
▫️13-20 FG
▫️5-10 3PT
▫️5-6 FT
🎥: @sixers pic.twitter.com/pf9Nkh0hRc
This past season, Steward was on the Maine Celtics roster in the G League, becoming the squad's second-leading scorer at 19.4 points in 29.7 minutes per contest. He added 4.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in helping to power the franchise to its first G League Finals.