San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle ready for breakout in Year 2

The 2025 Wilt Chamberlain Trophy is sitting inside Stacey and Quannette Castle’s Atlanta-area home for the proud parents and their visitors to admire.

Respectfully, San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle — the winner of the award given to the NBA’s top rookie — would rather it be there than sitting in his home in San Antonio collecting dust.

“My parents love that stuff. Having visual representation of accolades, they love that stuff,” Castle recently told Andscape. “At the end of the day, it’s just basketball. So, I don’t need a trophy to tell me how good I am. I know I put the work in, so I let my parents appreciate it. …

“It’s definitely a great accolade to have. But it’s not really something that I’m really displaying. Everybody knows I won rookie of the year. It’s over with now.”

The Spurs selected Castle with the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft out of Connecticut. The Covington, Georgia, native averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game in 81 games during the 2024-25 season. A global media panel of 100 voters chose Castle as NBA Rookie of the Year after he received 92 first-place votes, seven second-place votes and one third-place vote, giving him a total of 482 points.

“It meant a lot. I put a lot of work in going into last [season],” Castle said. “So, to have that award, that took a lot of pressure off my shoulders. Now, I can just go out there and hoop.”

Entering his second season, Castle may be up for NBA Most Improved Player and All-Defensive Team this season.

The athletic 6-foot-6, 215-pounder entered tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET) averaging 20 points on 55.4% shooting from the field, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals through six games. He is the only second-year NBA player averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and he’s one of only 17 in the league.

While Castle isn’t certain whether he will return to the Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend, he does have a goal to make the all-defensive team.

“I really don’t think it’s a lot of pressure [going forward],” Castle said. “I feel like once you get it, your name is installed in history. And then you have to go make your career after that. I’m not going out there saying, ‘I’m the rookie of the year and give me a vet [officiating] call, respect me.’ You got to go out there and play. I’m not really thinking about that [award] when I’m playing in the game. I’m just trying to improve every year.”

Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson told Castle entering the offseason that he wanted him to impact winning without the basketball on both ends of the floor. So far, Castle has lived up to that request as he is successfully guarding the top guards and small forwards of opposing teams.

“It’s going to be a great opportunity for his versatility,” Johnson said. “He can impact winning whether he is on the ball, off the ball, defensively. He is going to guard a ton of different profiles in terms of premier players on teams. He has an opportunity to affect the game as much as anybody.”

Castle’s second season improvement and highlights have been overshadowed by the MVP-caliber start from his 7-4 teammate Victor Wembanyama. A now-healthy Wembanyama is averaging 26.7 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, a league-best 4.7 blocks and 1.3 steals. His 2024-25 season ended prematurely in February because of a blood clot in his right shoulder. The Frenchman’s much more aggressive offensive play has been one of the biggest sparks of this early NBA season.

Castle believes Wembanyama is going to be the NBA’s top player.

“The way he’s playing right now was the way I’ve been seeing him play all summer,” Castle said. “He’s been waiting to get back out there since All-Star break, so I know he’s hungry for this. It’s a big year for him. But he’s been putting the work in. He’s been showing it all summer that he’s going to be the best player in the league. I honestly wasn’t surprised by his performance.”

The Spurs were an afterthought in terms of NBA contender hopefuls until Wembanyama opened the season with 40 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and several rim-rocking dunks in a season-opening 125-92 win at Dallas on Oct. 22.

Castle has also been a strong co-star while the Spurs (5-1) opened the season with a 5-0 record. San Antonio also has rookie guard Dylan Harper, who has the potential to join Castle and Wembanyama as rookie of the year, but he is expected to be sidelined several weeks with a left calf strain. Star guard De’Aaron Fox (right hamstring strain) will also be a major addition once he debuts this season.

The Spurs haven’t been to the NBA playoffs since 2019, but big change definitely seems on the horizon with Wembanyama and Castle leading the way.

“We know what we have in our locker room,” Castle said. “We are going to be a tough team to beat this year, especially if we hang our hat on the defensive end. Whether we get talked about or not, we know teams are going to have to compete when they play against us.”

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