Michael Stewart (basketball)

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For other persons named Michael Stewart, see Michael Stewart (disambiguation).

Michael Curtis "Yogi" Stewart (born April 24, 1975 in Cucq-Trépied-Stella-Plage, France) is an American former NBA basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks. Stewart earned his nickname "Yogi" from his brother Michael for his childhood love of Yogi Bear cartoons.

Stewart starred at Kennedy High in Sacramento, California, leading the Cougars to back-to-back city section titles in 1990 and 1991.

Stewart played four seasons at California. He averaged 4.3 ppg and 4.7 rpg in 117 games, but finishing as the Bears' all-time leading shotblocker (207). Stewart set school a school record by blocking 59 shots as a freshman in 1993-94 and holds the four best single-season totals for blocks in school history. He never missed a game, playing in all 117 games during his collegiate career and shooting .510 from the field.

At the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival, Stewart was a member of the bronze medal-winning West team.

Stewart went undrafted and was signed to a one year contract by the Kings on September 11, 1997. This was a dream come true for Michael, as he served as a ballboy for the Kings in his youth. In 1997-98, he led the Kings in blocked shots and ranked second overall among NBA rookies. During the offseason, he was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Raptors on January 21st, 1999.

This trend of little to no playing time continued even after he was traded away to the Cleveland Cavaliers in during the 2002-03 and the Boston Celtics during the 2003-04 season.

He was traded to the Hawks on February 24, 2005, along with Gary Payton, Tom Gugliotta and a first-round draft pick, in exchange for Antoine Walker.

Stewart found himself out of the league and eventually retired.^{[citation needed]}