San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle was the runaway winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award on Tuesday.
Castle is the second straight San Antonio player to win top rookie honors. Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous winner last season.
Castle received 92 of the 100 first-place votes and totaled 482 points in balloting conducted by a global media panel. The former UConn standout was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft.
Zaccharie Risacher of Atlanta Hawks was second with five first-place votes and 245 points. The Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells (three first-place votes, 123 points) placed third.
“Coming in with all the confidence that I had in myself as a player, that was definitely a goal of mine from Day 1,” Castle said on TNT. “I’m just happy I was able to execute it.”
Castle joins Wembanyama, and legends David Robinson (1989-90) and Tim Duncan (1997-98) as San Antonio players to win the award.
Said Wembanyama on social media: “Hustle, heart & just pure talent… all year long, you showed why you deserved this title !! So proud of you @StephonCastle”
The Spurs are the first team with back-to-back winners since the Minnesota Timberwolves in the middle of last decade. Andrew Wiggins was the 2014-15 winner and Karl-Anthony Towns won the honor the following campaign.
Castle, 20, averaged a rookie-best 14.7 points and also led with 74 steals while playing in 81 games this season (47 starts). He also averaged 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds and made 95 3-point baskets.
During All-Star weekend, Castle was named MVP of the Castrol Rising Stars after leading the team to a spot in the NBA All-Star Game.
