Spurs’ guard Stephon Castle beats out Zaccharie Risacher and Jaylen Wells to win the 2024-25 Rookie of the Year Award.
SAN ANTONIO — This time last year, Spurs fans were congratulating Victor Wembanyama on winning the 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year.
For the second year in a row, a Spurs player is receiving the same honor, except he’s almost a foot shorter.
Stephon Castle brings home the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year award after a season in which he averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 rebounds in 81 games.
Since Wemby was ruled out for the season with deep vein thrombosis on Feb. 20, Castle upped his game to average 18 points, 5.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds, becoming a leader of the team after losing both Wemby and De’Aaron Fox during the period.
Castle received 92 of 100 first-place votes for the award. He beat out finalists Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks (five first-place votes) and Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies (three first-place votes.)
No. 1 overall pick Risacher, also French like Wemby, had a strong end to his rookie campaign, averaging 12.6 points and 3.6 rebounds. Wells was a nice surprise for Memphis. The second round pick grinded out a nice role for himself on the playoff-seeking Grizzlies. He unfortunately suffered a wrist injury, which cut his season short in early April.
But neither player’s seasons were enough to overtake Castle, who has been on the top of NBA.com’s Rookie Ladder since late January and a mainstay on the list since mid-December.
In what many experts considered to be a “weak” draft class, Castle led all rookies in total points, points per game, free throws attempted and made, and total steals.
His best scoring game came in a February loss against the Charlotte Hornets. He scored 33 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
While many young players were resting, Castle kept himself busy during the All-Star break.
First, he hit the game-winner in Game 1 of the Rising Stars game, adding an MVP of the tournament to his list of rookie accomplishments.
While ultimately finishing second, he gave habitual champion Mac McClung a run for his money in the 2025 NBA Slam Dunk contest.
Wemby and Castle now become the second pair of teammates to win back-to-back ROTY awards in the past 50 years. The other time was almost 10 years ago when Andrew Wiggins (2014-15) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2015-16) did it for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Can the Spurs make it three rookies in a row next year? They currently have the 8th and 14th (via Atlanta) best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Cooper Flagg, the favorite to be taken with that selection, already made a name for himself in the Alamo City after his performance in the Final Four.
And after an anticlimactic loss to Houston in the penultimate round, Flagg might not think his time in San Antonio is finished.
But even if they don’t land the first pick, Castle was picked fourth in last year’s draft, so you never really know who’ll have the best rookie season.
The NBA Draft Lottery takes place May 12 at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.