NBA
Stephon Castle named Spurs’ second-straight Rookie of the Year
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated27 mins ago on April 30, 2025
Stephon Castle, the fourth pick of the 2024 NBA draft, was chosen this Tuesday night as this season’s Rookie of the Year. This meant that the 20-year-old is the Spurs’ second-straight first year star to earn this honor, after teammate Victor Wembanyama conquered the award during the last campaign.
The truth is, Stephon is a fast learner. In a matter of a week in the league, the San Antonio rookie had already mastered the slow step and deceleration move, famously known as the Eurostep. “They taught me that in one of my first workouts,” the guard told the press.
Castle received 92 first-place votes to beat runner-up Zaccharie Risacher of the Hawks, and the Grizzlies star Jaylen Wells who was voted into third place. “I’ve always been super confident as a player,” he said after becoming the fourth Spur to win the accolade, along Wemby, Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
“So, I felt like there was no doubt in my mind that I would eventually get to this point, especially with all the work that I put in,” the rookie expressed. “I felt like it was just inevitable to happen. I feel like [confidence is] what really got me to this point, and not holding myself back from anything.”
Now San Antonio is the fifth franchise in NBA history, and now just the second club in the past 50 years to earn back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners. The last time this occurred was back when Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns won the award consecutively for Minnesota, back in 2015 and 2016.
“We have a lot of history in this organization,” Castle said with pride about being part of the Spurs. “So, to add another thing to our trophy case would definitely mean a lot, especially if it’s something that my name is being engraved into.”
During his first season in the league, Stephon competed in 80 games, starting in 47. He led all rookies in total points (1,190), made field goals (423) and steals (74). Plus, Castle dropped almost 250 free throws, and posted averages of 4.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 0.91 steals.
