Stephon Castle set his sights on the rookie of the year award from the very beginning and achieved his goal with an overwhelming majority. The San Antonio Spurs celebrated back-to-back winners of the honor, following Victor Wembanyama’s recognition last year, with Castle shining as the new standout. Notably, Castle became the fifth rookie in Spurs history to surpass 1,000 points in a season.
The voting process was clearly decisive. Castle received 92 first-place votes, outpacing Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks, who came in second place, and Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies, who finished third. Risacher secured five first-place votes, while Wells took three. “I came into the league confident in my abilities, and winning this award was a clear goal,” Castle expressed on TNT during the announcement of his victory. “It’s a great feeling to see it come to fruition.”
With Castle’s victory, the Spurs became the second team in over fifty years to earn back-to-back rookie awards. The last to accomplish this remarkable feat was the duo of Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns in 2015 and 2016. Wembanyama congratulated Castle on social media, applauding his relentless talent and dedication, writing, “Hustle, heart & just pure talent… you showed exactly why you deserved this title all year! So proud of you.”
Before this recent Spurs’ success, the Buffalo Braves held the distinction with back-to-back honor winners Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio in 1973 and 1974. Chris Paul, Castle’s seasoned partner on the court, extolled his companion’s competitive nature. “It’s what I look for first in a teammate,” Paul revealed. “Talent is important, but being competitive takes you further. I spotted Castle’s competitiveness right away, and it made things easy for us.”
In the current season, Castle topped the leaderboards among rookies in scoring (1,190 points) and steals (74). Risacher ended strong, receiving Eastern Conference rookie of the month accolades for February and March. Wells excelled with the most rookie starts (74) and knocking down a significant number of 3-pointers (138), tying with Bub Carrington from Washington.
Risacher, sharing French roots with Wembanyama, had aspirations for a consecutive international players victory streak in the league, akin to the wins by Australia’s Ben Simmons and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic in 2018 and 2019. Meanwhile, Wells sought to be the first Grizzlies rookie of the year awardee since Ja Morant’s success in 2020.
A global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters, responsible for covering the league, cast their votes at the conclusion of the regular season to determine the rookie of the year. Following Castle in the voting, Washington’s Alex Sarr came in fourth, trailed by Memphis’ Zach Edey in fifth place and Miami’s Kel’el Ware in sixth.
The league has also announced other awards from the voting process: Cleveland’s Evan Mobley won defensive player of the year, Jalen Brunson of New York earned the clutch player of the year, and Payton Pritchard from Boston took home the sixth man of the year award.
This week, another highlight awaits as the most improved player—Cade Cunningham of Detroit, Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers—will be unveiled on Wednesday at 7 p.m. EDT on TNT. Further accolades have celebrated Golden State’s Stephen Curry with the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award, and his teammate Draymond Green captured the hustle award as voted by the league.