There was no Victor Wembanyama or Paolo Banchero, no Ja Morant or Luka Dončić vying to be NBA Rookie of the Year this season, which means there was no singular candidate whose statistics, style or charisma made them the obvious choice or set them on a clear path to stardom.
But there was Stephon Castle, whose availability to his team, solid play that improved over the season and surprisingly raw power as a dunker were enough to earn him billing as the league’s top rookie in a 2024 draft class that lived up to its reputation as something short of spectacular. Castle was announced the winner of this year’s award on TNT on Tuesday night, prior to Game 5 between the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons.
The 2024-25 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year is… Stephon Castle!#NBAAwards | #KiaROY | @Kia pic.twitter.com/Mb53JSAFyA
— NBA (@NBA) April 29, 2025
Castle, 20, was drafted fourth last summer out of Connecticut. He is the second consecutive San Antonio Spur to take home the award for the league’s best rookie, following in Wembanyama’s footsteps. Castle played 81 games and led all rookies with a scoring average of 14.7 points per contest — the lowest scoring average for the NBA’s rookie of the year since Malcolm Brogdon won the award in 2017.
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Castle beat out the Atlanta Hawks’ Zaccharie Risacher, a France native who was the top pick in last year’s draft, and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells in a vote by 100 media members covering the NBA.
A 6-foot-6 combo guard with powerful legs that allow him to attack the rim with a vengeance, Castle performed admirably at the league’s slam dunk contest during All-Star weekend, pushing champion Mac McClung in a second-place finish. His raw jumping ability that allows him to dunk in traffic, which can swing momentum in a game, is a weapon Castle used to his advantage.
Castle made 47 starts for the Spurs and shot 43 percent from the field, weighed down by a .285 shooting percentage on four 3-point attempts per game. He also averaged 4.1 assists, 3.7 boards and nearly one steal per game.
Wembanyama missed the remainder of the season post-All-Star break due to a blood clot, and Castle’s production took off in Wemby’s absence. He averaged 17.8 points with 5.1 boards and 5.0 assists after the All-Star break, though his shooting remained consistently inconsistent. Twice the league’s rookie of the month, Castle’s play continued to grow stronger in March, when he averaged 19.5 points, scored in double figures in 15 of 17 games and had a string of six consecutive games with at least 15 points.
Not only did Wembanyama average a double-double as a rookie (21.4 points and 10.6 boards), but he led the NBA with 3.6 blocks per game. Banchero was a 20-point scorer as a rookie, Morant averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 assists, and Dončić bullied his way to 21.2 points, 7.8 boards, and 6.0 assists in his 2019 rookie campaign in Dallas.
Neither Castle nor any member of his rookie class was going to match or even come close to the numbers posted by past winners, but Castle’s play was better than his competitors throughout the long season. Castle also faced his share of adversity, losing not only the best player on his team in Wembanyama, but also his coach. Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ legendary coach, suffered a stroke in early November and missed the rest of the season.
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Risacher, 20, averaged 12.2 points and shot .355 from 3-point range in 75 games for the Hawks, including 73 starts. He led all rookies with games in which he scored at least 30 points (four), including his career-best 38 points against Brooklyn on April 10 — the highest scoring game by any rookie this season.
Wells, 21, was a second-round pick for the Grizzlies and went on to play in 79 games (74 starts), leading all rookies in team wins, starts and 3s (138). He averaged 10.4 points and 3.4 rebounds, but broke his wrist in the Grizzlies’ 79th game, thus missing the Play-In and playoffs for Memphis.
The NBA will unveil its most-improved player award on Wednesday, with MVP and coach of the year still to come. Individual award winners thus far include:
- Sixth Man: Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics
- Defensive Player: Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
- Clutch Player: Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks.
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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