This past Monday night in the NBA, two worlds shared the same orbit once more, reminding strident University of Washington basketball followers everywhere of what might have been if not further agonizing them..
The box scores don’t lie.
For the Detroit Pistons, the 6-foot-8 Isaiah Stewart scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 114-106 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on the road,
Simultaneously, the 6-foot-10 Jaden McDaniels dropped in 22 points on 9-for-11 shooting in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 125-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets, with his performance also coming on the road.
It was a 20-20 night for these one-time Husky teammates who to this day still are regarded as the biggest waste of high-level talent to come through Montlake.
Jaden McDaniels waits to sub in as UW freshman. / Joe Nicholson
They spent the 2019-20 basketball season, on the eve of a major COVID pandemic outbreak, as UW freshmen, often starting side by side before each lived up to their considerable promise and became a first-round draft pick and now NBA starters.
Stewart went at No. 16 to the Portland Trail Blazers and was traded the same day to Detroit. McDaniels heard his name called out at No. 28, going to the Los Angeles Lakers before he was traded to Minnesota.
Yet the Stewart-McDaniels basketball partnership just never really got going on the amateur level — the Huskies finished a mundane 15-17 after starting out 11-4, losing their starting point guard Quade Green to grades and going through a brutal midseason collapse.
Yet these touted young big men were rarely on point at the same time. They had just one game over the 32 in which they played where each scored 20 or more for the UW.
In an 88-69 non-conference decision over San Diego, Stewart dropped in 25 points and McDaniels 20 at Alaska Airlines Arena.
That was it for major heroics as Huskies all at once.
I still can’t believe the university of Washington had Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart on the same team. pic.twitter.com/1BlKwY2Knn
— Pistons Talk (@Pistons__Talk) October 30, 2025
Now in their sixth NBA seasons, Stewart and McDaniels typically fill roles that don’t require them to be huge scorers. Prior to Monday, in fact, they had just one other night in which they were clearly offensive-minded at the same time.
On Dec. 23, 2023, they each scored 20 points that evening.
McDaniels had his total in a 110-98 win at Sacramento while Stewart dropped his 20 in a 120-115 loss at Brooklyn.
So while they make a decent living as NBA players, Husky fans forever are left to wonder why they couldn’t have gotten more out of the twin talents.
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