Detroit Pistons rookie big man Isaiah Stewart was one of 17 young players selected to the 2021 USA Basketball Select Team, which trained with the USA Basketball Men’s National Team in Las Vegas from Tuesday-Friday.
Unfortunately, Stewart’s time in Vegas was cut short.
Stewart suffered an ankle injury Thursday and went home before completing the entire training camp, sources confirmed to the Free Press on Friday. A spokesperson for USA Basketball noted Stewart was no longer attending the camp on Friday afternoon. Stewart was scheduled to talk to the media at 8 p.m.
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It isn’t known how severe Stewart’s injury is.
He was named Second Team All-Rookie after a strong inaugural season with the Pistons, averaging 7.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 68 games.
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Pistons rookie forward Saddiq Bey, who was also named to the Select Team alongside Stewart, was one of three players from the team to be temporarily promoted to the main USA Basketball team. They will play their first exhibition game Saturday against Nigeria at 8 p.m. USA Basketball, with Pistons forward Jerami Grant on the roster, has five exhibition games before tipping off their Olympic slate July 25 against France in Tokyo.
ESPN was first to report Stewart’s injury.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.