Newly married Stewart embracing life in the East

Shaun Stewart has returned to Australia in 2026 in a newly married man and was ready to experience a different part of the country and can't wait now for a first home NBL1 East game on Friday for the Hills Hornets.

Across four seasons with three teams in the NBL1 West, Stewart proved himself a standout point guard equally capable of being a playmaker and distributor as well as a dynamic scorer and shooter when called upon.

He also showed himself a strong leader and also a championship winner with the Geraldton Buccaneers in 2023 on the back of a heartbreaking losing Grand Final in 2022, and then he was instrumental in taking the Goldfields Giants to the finals in 2025 before losing to his former team.

A natural leader and winner is the best way to sum up the 32-year-old from North Carolina and that's why he was right at the shopping list for Hornets coach Reece Potter, and Stewart was quick to jump on board for 2026 for a new Australian experience.

Newly married man

Above everything else, the biggest change from last year to this year for Stewart is that he is now a married man with his wedding with long-time partner Dee going off without a hitch back in November.

As soon as his NBL1 West season finished last year with the Giants and the couple left Kalgoorlie to get back home to North Carolina and get everything ready for the wedding a couple of months later.

It might have been a bit more stressful in the build up than they imagined, but it's all worth it now as the married couple now embark on a new journey throughout NSW after lived in Mandurah, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton in their time out West.

"Yes, we definitely got married in November and it definitely was a good wedding and I'm glad that it all went so well," Stewart said.

"There was a lot of stress leading up to it but it was definitely worth it and I'm just glad that we passed that and had a great wedding, and now we're onto the married life.

"This is our first time being here as a married couple and it is kind of a different feeling, and I feel more responsibility on my side but it's been great and I've been enjoying it so far. And I'm sure I will for the rest of my life too."

How the move to Hornets happened

Making the negotiations simple between Stewart and coach Potter was that he doesn’t have an agent so all it took was some discussions about what the Hornets wanted in a player and what Stewart wanted from a team, and they quickly realised it matched up.

Stewart has always been the ultimate team player and leader on the NBL1 West teams he's been on and is happy to take a backseat to set up teammates to take over games, or if need be he is more than willing and able to do that himself.

So when he knew that the Hornets were looking for an experienced, import point guard to come and run the team, it didn't take him long to sign on.

"Me personally I don’t have an agent so me and Reece have been sharing some messages the past couple of seasons a bit back and forth, and it just hadn’t quite worked out in the past but this time it felt like a perfect match," Stewart said.

"They needed a guard and they wanted somebody like me because they'd never really had a point guard as an import before.

"So they thought I could bring a different dynamic to the team and I liked the sound of that, and I also wanted to experience being in a different setting.

"I like Australia in general but I just wanted to see what else is out there for me in Australia while I could still be part of the NBL1 but see a different part of the country.

"It all matched up really well and I bring them something they were looking for, and I can do my best to be a leader and floor general or scorer for them, whatever they need which they might have been lacking last year."

Differences so far in the East

Especially over his last three NBL1 West seasons, Stewart was part of some high-quality teams and he played in back-to-back Grand Finals with the Buccaneers over 2022 and 2023, and then led the Giants to another playoff run in 2025.

So he has been playing at a high level on some top-quality teams in a league where he has enjoyed the freedom of movement in the West, and that has been the biggest thing he has noticed in the East after two games in terms of physical defence allowed.

That and the quick pace of the game in the East that he felt in those first two road games against Inner West and Newcastle, and even if there is an adjustment period for him, he doesn’t expect it to last long.

"We had a couple of scrimmages before the season as well as that first game so I've got a bit of a feel for it and it's a bit more of a fast-paced type game where they love to pick up full-court," Stewart said.

"Then also physicality wise, it's very physical here and they let a lot go and in the West I'd say there's a fair bit more freedom of movement.

"But here it's definitely more faster pace with the picking up full court, and then the physicality that you can get away with in compared to the West.

"But it's still good and I'm just trying to adjust because I got so used to the West way of playing and as a point guard, you do have to adjust to the different style of play offensive ways so I'm still getting used to it.

"I'm adjusting to it the best I can and of course you just have to be able to adapt to wherever you play at."

Experiencing different Australian places

When Stewart came to Australia for the first time to play with the Mandurah Magic of the then SBL competition in Western Australia, he had no idea it would become his most regular basketball destination.

He also had no idea he'd live in such far ranging places like Mandurah, an hour south of Perth, and then out to Geraldton which is four hours north of Perth, and then Kalgoorlie which is six hours inland of Perth in the Goldfields region of WA.

Now even coming to the Hornets, it's out in the Hills Districts that again is out of the main city of the state he's in, but that's just how he'd like it.

He might have been in Australia a long time now, but never actually lived in a major city like Perth or Sydney.

"It's kind of a good thing and I'm glad that I haven't been right in the city at any of places I've played here in Australia just because it helps you connect better with your teammates and with your community," Stewart said.

"It reminds me more like a home type feeling because you get to know people in the community and at the club so much better because you're around them so much more than you would be closer to the city.

"Then you're able to go out to dinners a bit more and people want to take you out just to get to know you more, and it's just more of a close-knit home when I'm going to these different clubs that aren’t in the city.

"I do enjoy that side of it and that helps both me and Dee feel more at home, and I enjoy not being right in the city at times even though obviously there's times you do wish you could just go to the middle of a city and for it to be just down the road.

"But at the same time, on a down weekend we can still do that just like we did last weekend for Easter and we went into Sydney and went to the Sydney Kings game on Sunday so there are pros and cons to everything."

Settling into life in Sydney

Having lived all round the different parts of Western Australia, Stewart was ready for a new Australian adventure and living on the east coast was a big reason from a lifestyle point of view above basketball why he and new wife Dee decided to try something different in 2026.

"We've been doing a lot and we're living at the Hills so we're maybe an hour from the city, but it's still a very good place to live," Stewart said.

"My wife works remote so she works more early in the mornings and then whenever she's on her down time she can go to the city whenever she wants, and she loves the beaches.

"So we have been able to check out lots of different suburbs around Sydney like Parramatta and we got to Bondi Beach, and there's a lot of different good places to go.

"We went to another couple of other beaches up north but she's probably done that a lot more than I've been able to, but we've been enjoying living here and it's been good to us so far and we've had no trouble fitting in at the club right away too."

First home game on Friday

Stewart and the Hornets started the NBL1 East season with a first up road double where they lost to the Inner West Bulls before beating the Newcastle Falcons ahead of the weekend off over Easter which did provide him the chance to take in Game 5 of the NBL Championship Series on Sunday.

Now Stewart can't wait for Friday night for his first game at Hills Basketball Stadium with the Hornets hosting the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

"I'm very excited and I'm just ready to get that first home game underway. Hopefully it's packed out and it's on a Friday so hopefully a lot of people can come out and support us," Stewart said.

"I know that it's one thing we have to be able to do is protect home court because that's something I've been used to doing so hopefully this year we can definitely do that.

"That comes from having a good crowd too and I clearly found that throughout the years when I was in Geraldton and Goldfields, and even at times at Mandurah.

"Having that home court advantage can help you get to the finals easier and you don't have to always worry about dealing with winning on the road in the finals so it gives you that little bit extra room for error if you get home court advantage by winning your games at home."