Former Huskies center Isaiah Steward will be heading to the Western Conference after a six-season tenure with the Detroit Pistons.
The Washington Huskies men's basketball has had 18 players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in the program's history.
Forward Hannes Steinbach became the 18th player when he was selected 14th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday.
One of the 17 previous players selected in the first round, center Isaiah Stewart, is set to undergo a major change in his professional career.
Stewart was traded from the Detroit Pistons to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in return for three second-round picks.
Stewart was selected 16th overall in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Before the start of the abridged COVID-19-shortened season, Stewart was dealt to the Houston Rockets and then the Pistons.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pound big man had spent his entire professional career since being dealt twice after being drafted.
In his six seasons with Detroit, he was named second-team All-Rookie and was a defensive enforcer for a Pistons squad that finished last season 60-22 and was the first seed in the Eastern Conference.
Stewart averaged 10 points on 55% shooting across 58 games (13 starts) last season. He also averaged five rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 assists a game.
For his career, the 25-year-old has averaged 8.8 points across 365 games (194 starts) on a 51.4% clip from the floor in addition to 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game.
Before the 2023-24 season, Stewart signed a four-year, $64 million contract.
Stewart was a part of the recruiting Class of 2019 for the Huskies. He was a consensus top five recruit and was the Gatorade and MaxPreps National Player of the Year in '19. He was a McDonald's All-American in addition and was a consensus top five recruit.
Stewart was one of the biggest recruits in the coaching tenure of former Washington head coach Mike Hopkins. The future Piston chose UW over offers from other notable basketball programs such as Syracuse, Michigan State, Duke and Kentucky, among others.
In his lone year with Washington, Stewart averaged 17 points across 32 games (all starts) on 57% shooting in addition to 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He was named first-team All-Pac-12 and a Pac-12 All-Freshman in his lone season on Montlake.
Stewart's success didn't translate to tournament success for the program, which made March Madness the year before. That was UW's last time making the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies finished 15-17 in Stewart's lone season in the Pacific Northwest.
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