San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle has won the NBA’s 2024-25 Rookie of the Year award, the league announced on Tuesday.
Castle received 92 of the first-place votes. Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks earned five first-place votes and the Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells got the other three.
Castle is now the second consecutive Spurs player to win Rookie of the Year, as Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, cruised to the trophy a year ago. Castle is now the fourth Spur overall to win the award, and it’s a group of players anyone would want to join. Wembanyama is obviously headed for stardom, and the two other winners, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, both won MVP awards during their Hall of Fame careers.
Unlike his three predecessors, though, Castle was not a No. 1 overall pick. He went No. 4 in what was considered to be a relatively weak draft class. Early season favorite Jared McCain suffered a season-ending injury in December, and that cleared the way for Castle to emerge as the new frontrunner as the year progressed.
For the season, Castle averaged 14.7 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds for a San Antonio team that hung around the play-in race while healthy. Castle also impressed with his defense, a trait that helped him win a national championship at Connecticut. And while his jumper is very much still a work in progress, he’s shown enough everywhere else to suggest he has a bright NBA future ahead of him.
San Antonio has drafted the last two Rookie of the Year winners, and it will have several chances for a three-peat next season. The Spurs will enter the draft with two lottery picks, their own and Atlanta’s thanks to the Dejounte Murray trade. With two bites at the apple and a stellar track record of developing talent, it’s hard to imagine the Spurs won’t get someone into this race again next year as the Wembanyama era takes its next step towards contention.
