"My game isn’t sexy. It’s not attractive," Isaiah Stewart said before the Pistons drafted him 16th overall in 2020. "But at the end of the day, it gets the job done. People who know Isaiah Stewart know I’m going to be successful at the NBA level."
He's well on his way toward proving it.
The Pistons signed Stewart to a four-year, $64 million extension on Monday, as first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the first time the club has re-signed one of its own draft picks since extending 2012 first-rounder Andre Drummond back in 2016. The fourth year is reportedly a team option.
Stewart arrived in GM Troy Weaver's first draft class in Detroit and has since become one of the faces of the Pistons' restoration. The 6'9 big man, lovingly known as Beef Stew, is a fierce competitor and bullish defender who reflects the Pistons teams of old that Weaver wants the current team to emulate.
He's also coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 11.3 points to go with his typically stout work on the glass, while showing signs of being able to stretch the floor. Stewart shot 32.7 percent from three on about four attempts per game. The Pistons expect him to continue improving in this department moving forward.
“I feel like I don’t have a ceiling,” Stewart said upon the end of the season. “It’s a lot of room for growth. I know when I first got drafted, people viewed me as a different player. I don’t know what the final version looks like because I’m going to continue to put in the work and continue to build my game as much as possible.”
The Pistons do have some organizing to do in the front court, where Stewart is part of a crowded cast that also features 2022 lottery pick and All-Rookie selection Jalen Duren and former second overall picks Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman. Weaver has said he intends to enter the season with all four big men on the roster, but Bagley and Wiseman still loom as trade candidates.
For Stewart, though, this is confirmation that the Pistons view him as part of the future, and hopefully part of their next winning era. Stewart has drawn trade interest from rival team himself, but Weaver and the Pistons want him right where he is.
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