Former Duke basketball freshman takes home Summer League crown

Former Duke basketball guard DJ Steward took home a Summer League Championship. 

Things have not gone exactly according to plan for former Duke basketball freshman guard DJ Steward since opting to leave Durham after one season, but things got a little bit better on Tuesday night.

After not being selected in the 2021 NBA Draft, Steward linked on with the Sacramento Kings and suited up for their Las Vegas Summer League team, which won the championship this week against the Boston Celtics, 100-67.

It was an up-and-down couple of weeks for Steward in Sin City as he did not play in two of the Kings’ five games.

The reason for Steward’s absence was listed as a coach’s decision, according to the official box scores by NBA.com.

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DJ Steward did not score in his Summer League debut against the Charlotte Hornets in just over 11 minutes of game action, but he did record two rebounds despite his 0-for-4 performance for the field.

After missing the next two games, the former Blue Devil only logged three minutes against the Dallas Mavericks. He chipped in four points, all from the free throw line, in addition to one rebound as he did not attempt a shot from the field.

Steward then played 11 minutes in the blowout championship victory as he again added four points on 2-of-6 shooting while also picking up two steals.

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While DJ Steward did not have any standout performances during his first action as a professional basketball player, Jalen Johnson and Tre Jones stole the Blue Devil-centric headlines.

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Johnson, the No. 20 overall pick of the Atlanta Hawks, was named to the All-Summer League First Team while Jones was snubbed from with First and Second Teams after his stellar outings.

Tre Jones, a player entering his second NBA season, was participating in his first-ever Las Vegas Summer League after the event was canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.