Former Duke basketball guard DJ Steward put on a show in his latest outing.
It sure looks as if recent Duke basketball player DJ Steward is far from giving up on his dream to make it to the NBA despite now seeming at least temporarily stuck in the G League after not hearing his name at the draft in July.
On Saturday night, Steward finished with a team-high 20 points as a reserve in a 112-109 home win by his Stockton Kings (6-4) over the South Bay Lakers (8-2). The 6-foot-2, 165-pound playmaker also contributed six rebounds, one assist, and three steals to the victory.
But the best part of Steward’s performance was the clutch, contested 3-pointer he knocked down with 1.9 seconds remaining in the bout that ended up as the difference on the scoreboard.
Solid G League stats from the Duke basketball alum
Through eight appearances as a member of the Stockton Kings this season, DJ Steward is averaging 12.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals in his 19.3 minutes per game.
Meanwhile, Steward’s shooting percentages also look rather promising. He is hitting 41.4 percent of his attempts from deep, 90.0 percent from the charity stripe, and 42.5 percent overall from the field.
Although Steward has drawn only one start thus far, he is proving to be one of the team’s most reliable weapons off the bench.
The Kings’ next contest is at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday when they play at the Oklahoma City Blue (6-4).
As an eventual one-and-done for the Duke Blue Devils last season, DJ Steward averaged 13.0 points, the second-highest mark on the team, in addition to 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 assists per game. Unfortunately, the Chicago native’s efforts were for a squad that finished 13-11 overall and became the program’s first since 1995 to fall short of an NCAA Tournament bid.