Spurs' Stephon Castle joins exclusive Tim Duncan club amid big rookie season
03/28/2025 12:49 AM
Outside of their fabled number-one overall picks, only one player in San Antonio Spurs history has been drafted higher than Stephon Castle. And while Sean Elliott, who went third overall in the 1989 NBA Draft, ranks as one of the greatest in Silver and Black history, it’s Stephon Castle who’s now joined Tim Duncan, Victor Wembanyama, and David Robinson.
In a 124-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Castle led San Antonio in points, rebounds, and assists, with 22 (Devin Vassell also notched 22), 11 and eight. With that performance, he became just the fourth rookie in franchise history to score more than 20, grab more than 10 boards, and dish out more than five assists in the same game.
Wembanyama had 11 such games last season. Duncan put up six of those outings in 1997-’98 while Robinson registered three like games in 1989-’90. Taken with the fourth overall pick this past summer, Castle, a national champion at UConn in his only year in college, entered San Antonio with intriguing expectations. His stat line in Cleveland wasn’t his only accomplishment that night.
Stephon Castle reaches 1,000 point mark
With 1,008 points on the season following the contest, Castle became the first rookie to hit 1,000 this year. In doing so, he hit a couple more franchise milestones.
The 20-year-old Covington, Georgia native is now just one of three Spurs rookies to surpass 1,000 points and 250 assists. One of the other two to accomplish that feat will surprise some. Willie Anderson enjoyed a fine first season in 1988-’89 before becoming a cog in the Robinson-led Spurs of the 1990s. The other of the two won’t stun anybody. Wemby surpassed those numbers on his way to the 2023-’24 Rookie of the Year.
The 1,000-plus points also make Castle the fifth Spur to score as much in his first season in the NBA. Along with the aforementioned Anderson, the usual suspects round out the list: Duncan, Robinson, and Wembanyama.
In typical Spurs fashion, though, Castle focused more on the outcome vs. the Cavs than on his accomplishments.
Castle reacts to loss in Cleveland
“We don’t really do moral victories. That’s a tough loss. It’s a good team,” Castle said following the setback to the squad with the best record in the Eastern Conference. “I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win. We could have won.”
“At the end of the day, I still want to win though,” the former Husky continued
In the absence of Wemby and star guard De’Aaron Fox, both out with injuries, the Spurs led the Cavaliers for a good portion of the fourth quarter.
“With the line-ups we had, we were switching everything. We had a mismatch with the bigs,” Castle shared.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Spurs with their next five games coming against franchises that will make the postseason, including these same Cavs again to round out the stretch.
“That’s been the case all year. You have a bad game, you get the luxury of quick turnarounds. A break is always good, but we’ll be able to bounce back from a tough loss like this and it’s definitely a luxury for us,” Castle admitted.
They also present opportunities for the Rookie of the Year favorite to cement the award.
The post Spurs’ Stephon Castle joins exclusive Tim Duncan club amid big rookie season appeared first on ClutchPoints.
