Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky Isaiah Stewart Throws More Punches, Ejected Again

The former UW standout has a long history of getting into NBA altercations.
Dan Raley|
Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart (28) bumps Denver's Peyton Watson in a recent game.
Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart (28) bumps Denver's Peyton Watson in a recent game. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

For six months in Seattle six years ago, Isaiah Stewart was so well behaved for the University of Washington basketball team. Soft-spoken. Hard-working. Elbows in their holsters.

However, on Monday night, the former Husky freshman turned Detroit Pistons enforcer once more turned up in the middle of yet another wild altercation -- the fourth highly visible skirmish for the sixth-year NBA veteran in his career.

Stewart was one of four players who were ejected in Charlotte, in his case for leaving the bench to put the Hornets' Miles Bridges in a headlock and land multiple left-handed punches to the other player' head in the third quarter of the Pistons' 110-104 road victory.

This Stewart fight actually was a side skirmish to the main bout, which involved Detroit's Jalen Duren and Charlottes' Moussa Diabate, who went face-to-face after a foul and head-butted each other. Duren next pushed Diabate in the face to really set things off.

Bridges threw a left-handed punch at Duren and that brought Stewart -- who answers to the nickname "Beef Stew" -- into the fracas, wearing ice packs on his knees and all.

He can probably expect to draw an ample fine, if not a suspension, for running onto the floor and fighting.

This comes a year after the 6-foot-8 Stewart came unhinged after he threw Indiana's Thomas Bryant to the floor, was immediately ejected from the game and led off gesturing to the Pacers bench and to the crowd.

In 2024, Stewart arbitrarily punched Phoenix Suns' center Drew Eubanks as both men were walking into the arena for a game in Arizona, was arrested and drew a three-game suspension. 

In 2021, an angry Stewart charged multiple times at the Los Angeles Lakers' legendary LeBron James, who had hit him with an elbow that drew blood during a game, and he became visibly upset while he was restrained and then ejected.

The Pistons were once known as "the Bad Boys" when they won a pair of NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, with former UW standout James Edwards a starter on the team, and Stewart seems hellbent on restoring that nickname.

Originally from Rochester, New York, Stewart surprised everyone as a high-profile recruit by turning down blue-blood basketball schools such as Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State and Syracuse to come play for the Huskies and coach Mike Hopkins for the 2019-20 season.

As a freshman, he averaged 17 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for a UW team that began the season 11-4, lost point guard Quade Green to academic eligibility issues and finished a disappointing 15-17.

Stewart started alongside the equally high regarded 6-foot-9 freshman Jaden McDaniels. Both players immediately entered the NBA Draft following that season and became first-round picks, with McDaniels going to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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