D.J. Stewart Jr. joins Cedevita Olimpija before the start of the regular season

For its latest reinforcement just before the start of the 2023/24 competitive season, Cedevita Olimpija looked across the Atlantic and brought in Dewayne ‘D.J.’ Stewart Jr.. The twenty-four-year-old American player played in the US and Dominican Republic last season.

“We have decided to add a player that covers outside positions to our team. Stewart is very talented offensively. This will be his first season in Europe, so we hope he will adapt as well and as quickly as possible. We are happy to have him in our rotation as we’ve added another quality player,” Cedevita Olimpija sports director Vlado Ilievski said upon signing the contract with Stewart.

“D.J. Stewart is another player who enters the season motivated. For him, at the age of 24, this will be his first year in Europe, and he wants to play at the highest level. Stewart can play in all three outside positions. Even with his height, he will be able to come to us to help, and offered us more options in our game in offense and defense. We will get to know him day by day and follow his process of adaptation and understanding of European basketball. We are pleased that he has become part of Cedevita Olimpija, because he is a player who can help us in many ways, not only by scoring points. But the fact is that European basketball is a little different from what they play in the G-League, so we have to give him time,” said the Italian expert on the bench of Dragons at the signing of Stewart’s contract, Simone Pianigiani.

“It’s nice to be a part of Cedevita Olimpija. My wife and son and I arrived in Ljubljana on Wednesday and in a short time we managed to get to know the city, which, like the country, is wonderful. I’m excited, I want to win as much as possible, with the team make it to the playoffs in all competitions and contribute to success from the very beginning,” said DJ Stewart Jr. upon his arrival in Ljubljana.

In the 2021/22 season, Stewart Jr. wore the jersey of the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Austin Spurs. For the latter, he averaged 14.4 points in 14 games of the regular season, and for the Skyforce, he averaged 18.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 34 games. In the 2022/23 season, he appeared in 38 regular season games for the Skyforce, recording 21.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

In the 2022/23 season, Stewart Jr. also played in the Dominican Republic, where he wore the jersey of the Marineros team, and in five games spent an average of 21.8 minutes on the floor per game, scoring 9.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1 .0 possessions per game.

Stewart Jr. this summer, we had the opportunity to follow him in the NBA Summer League, where he wore the Washington Wizards jersey. He played in four games and averaged 17.0 minutes on the floor, averaging 5.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.