Seemingly, everyone around Stephon Castle is talking about the strength of his NBA Rookie of the Year caliber season. Some are from a distance, too. Several members of the San Antonio Spurs, including his acting head coach and one of the team’s best players, leave little doubt about where they stand.
During a recent Spurs home stand, Castle got the question.
“It’s hard not to look at it,” the first-year standout from UConn admitted.
He made sure to clarify, though.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been shooting for it.”
Stephon Castle, asked by @JMcDonald_SAEN , if he pays attention to the Rookie of the Year race…
“It’s hard not to look at it. I wouldn’t say I’ve been shooting for it…”
Full answer
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— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) March 15, 2025
It is typical of a San Antonio Spur to downplay the desire for an individual award. To have followed the 20-year-old guard through his first season in San Antonio is to also fully believe the award is not his main focus.
“You haven’t heard me really say anything about it all year. Going out there and playing, playing free. Just let things work out for themselves.”
Stephon Castle continues to impress
Since joining the Spurs as the fourth overall pick in this past summer’s draft, Castle has taken on a number of roles. But he’s always had a role. That’s rarely been the case for rookies through the last quarter century of the franchise’s history. Very few rooks have had an impact on the Spurs during that span. And those rookie campaigns led to legendary careers, or in Victor Wembanyama’s case are on the way there. Like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Kawhi Leonard, Castle’s play is making the basketball world take notice.
The Covington, Georgia’s biggest adjustment has been whether he starts or contributes off the bench. With newly acquired Spurs star De’Aaron Fox now out for the rest of the year, Castle has been reinserted into the starting line-up.
“Adjust? Not really,” Castle, who’s started about half the games he’s played through a healthy season, said.
“Just playing free, no matter who’s on the court,” he continued on starting again. “I feel like the main thing is the communication on defense, the guys who we have on the court. Having CP [Chris Paul] out there, I feel like his communication on defense helps me a lot. Just trying to uphold that when he’s not in the game is probably the biggest thing for me.”
Castle deals with rookie prank
Directly following a recent loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Castle found himself at the center of a major prank.
“I was just shook. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw everybody start gathering around. I’d rather that really anything else, like some popcorn or something. The smell would’ve still been in there.”
Instead, all four tires had been taken off his vehicle in a ‘welcome to the NBA’ moment.
“Yeah, they put the wheels back on it like five minutes later, so I wasn’t too mad at it,” he admitted.
Teammate Sandro Mamukelashvili had orchestrated the move. Castle has since revealed he has payback in mind. In the meantime, he doesn’t have any other pranks to report.
“Hopefully, there’s nothing new.”
Opposite of his game. where we have every reason to believe we’ll see continued huge development.
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