BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A magical year continued for 19-year-old Stephon Castle on Wednesday at the NBA Draft in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, where he was drafted fourth overall by the San Antonio Spurs.
In San Antonio, Castle will play alongside star center Victor Wembanyama. Following the selection, Castle and UConn men's basketball head coach Dan Hurley spoke with ESPN.
"They're obviously getting a winner. I learned how to win last year, so I'm coming in with that kind of mindset. Just to have a teammate like (Wembanyama) next to you, I feel like it opens up the floor so much for you to grow and expand your game. I can't wait to get out there," Castle said.
Hurley was reminded that Castle was the first McDonald's All-American he recruited to UConn and said that Castle played like it.
"This guy, when you look at fit, the Spurs value winning, they value workers, they value championships, and this is the perfect player for them to draft with what they do with that organization. This guy's just scratching the surface," Hurley said.
In his one season at UConn, Castle, the 6-foot-6, 210-pound freshman guard from Covington, Ga. averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while helping lead the Huskies to the second of their back-to-back national championships. Castle shot 47.2% from the field and steadily improved his three-point shot as the season went on.
Entering his lone season at UConn, Castle was a five-star top-10 recruit who was projected from the beginning as a top pick in the NBA Draft. Perhaps, what made Castle so attractive to NBA scouts and worthy of the fourth overall pick was the scintillating defense he displayed throughout the year that ramped up in the NCAA Tournament, when he was consistently tasked with guarding the opponent’s best perimeter player.
In recent weeks, Castle has earned comparisons to standout NBA defensive guards such as Derrick White and Jrue Holiday of the NBA-champion Boston Celtics. Known for doing the dirty work, Castle used his 6-foot-9 wingspan to defend multiple positions on the court. Throughout the season, he set the tone by fighting through screens, blocking shots at the rim and attaching himself to opponents away from the ball.
As a freshman at UConn, Castle shot just 26.7% from behind the arc, but his shot improved steadily. He hit multiple big 3’s during the NCAA Tournament when teams practically dared him to shoot. Throughout the March Madness run, the country watched as Castle successfully cut to the rim, set on-ball screens and posted up both smaller guards and larger defenders.
There is something to be said by noting that Castle arguably played his best basketball of the season in the Final Four. Supplementing his defensive prowess, he scored 21 points in the national semifinal against Alabama and followed that up with 15 more against Purdue in the national championship. His points did not come in garbage time either; in a slow first half against the Crimson Tide, Castle kept the Huskies in the game.
In addition to his size and athletic ability, Castle’s maturity earned him rave reviews from UConn’s coaching staff. Hurley repeatedly praised Castle for putting the team’s best interests ahead of his own throughout the season.
Despite being the ultimate team player, Castle still earned the respect of the basketball world. The Big East Freshman of the Year broke Allen Iverson’s record by being named Big East Freshman of the Week 11 times in 2023-2024 – that came despite an injury early in the season that forced Castle to miss multiple weeks.
Castle is the sixth UConn men's basketball player to be selected in the top five of the NBA Draft. He joins Donyell Marshall, the fourth overall pick in the 1994 draft; Ray Allen, the fifth overall pick in the 1996 draft; Emeka Okafor, the second overall pick in the 2004 draft; Ben Gordon, the third overall pick in the 2004 draft; and Hasheem Thabeet, the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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