San Antonio Spurs point guard Stephon Castle of Covington, Georgia has been named the National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year according to basketnews.com on Tuesday. This is the second consecutive season a Spurs player has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year. Last season, center Victor Wembanyama of Le Chesnay, France received the honour.
In 81 games this season, Castle averaged 14.7 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, and 3.7 rebounds per game. He also had a field goal percentage of .428, three point percentage of .285, and free throw percentage of .724.
Castle was the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He was only drafted behind Atlanta Hawks small forward Zaccharie Risacher of Malaga, Spain, Washington Wizards center Alex Sarr of Bordeaux, France and Houston Rockets shooting guard Reed Sheppard of London, Kentucky.
Wembanyama and Castle are the third and fourth Spurs players to be named NBA Rookie of the Year respectively. The first Spurs player to receive the honour was center David Robinson of Key West, Florida in 1989-90, and the second Spurs player to be named NBA Rookie of the Year was Tim Duncan of Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands in 1997-98.
Robinson and Duncan won two NBA Finals together, in 1999 and 2003. In the 1999 NBA Finals. the Spurs defeated the New York Knicks four games to one. The regular season was only 50 games that year because of the lockout. Then, in the 2003 NBA Finals, the Spurs beat the New Jersey Nets in six games. With Castle and Wembanyama having bright futures, the Spurs will hope history repeats itself.
