Stewart was ejected from game against Pacers for hard foul on Thomas Bryant
Isaiah Stewart will be all over Little Caesars arena for tonight’s matchup against the Dallas Mavericks . He will be everywhere, that is, except for on the court.
Detroit Pistons’ backup big man Isaiah Stewart received a one-game suspension from the NBA for accruing his sixth flagrant foul point of the season, and he happened to do it on his Bobblehead night.
The Pistons are giving 5,000 fans a Beef Stew Bobblehead that connects to a previous “Dawg Pound” Bobblehead of Jalen Duren.
The Pistons are giving away 5,000 Isaiah Stewart bobblehead, the second figure in a connected Dawg Pound set at Friday’s game. pic.twitter.com/1BrrjPT08v
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) January 29, 2025
Stewart was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected following a forearm shove that knocked Pacers big man Thomas Bryant to the floor in Wednesday’s game. Stewart apparently took exception to something Bryant said.
It also created quite a stir between the two franchises, with several players needing to be separated from the scrum. During the ruckus, Stewart mouthed some words to Bryant and seemed to indicate he was ready to take the fight off the floor if Bryant was up for it while making gestures that could be read as fists and a gun.
That was one of several dustups between players, including one that led to a technical for Myles Turner after grabbing Detroit’s Malik Beasley.
Stewart has never been one to shy away from physical play and has ratcheted situations beyond the breaking point more than once. Famously, he had to be held back from … attempting to cause great bodily harm to LeBron James after receiving an elbow that caused a noticeable gash on Stewart’s forehead.
After the game, Stewart said he “let his teammates” down by being baited into reacting to what the Pacers were dishing out.
“I have to be better at not letting those words allow me to affect the team,” Stewart said after the Pacers game, per the Detroit News .
The game against the Pacers was highly charged throughout, and both Cade Cunningham and JB Bickerstaff indicated that things went beyond basketball trash talk. They hinted that the refs let things get out of control and seemed more concerned with managing only Detroit’s players’ reactions.
“I thought the game could have been managed better outside of just the players,” Cunningham said postgame. “A lot of crazy stuff was allowed on the other end, and we were getting looked at like we were the guys initiating all that.”
After the game, Bickerstaff talked about his role in defending his players.
“It is absolutely my responsibility to defend our guys when we feel like things aren’t balanced, and I will never, never, stop doing that,” Bickerstaff said.
“There are things that happen on the basketball court that you have to deal with, and then there are certain things that are said to you that are no longer about basketball, and when it crosses that line like it did tonight, you should be able to stand up for yourself.”
Stewart’s absence will seemingly open up some extended run for backup big Paul Reed.