Stephon Castle (San Antonio Spurs) voted NBA rookie of the year ahead of Zaccharie Risacher

The rookie of the year award is still being awarded to San Antonio. After Victor Wembanyama, unanimously voted the NBA's best rookie in 2024 , it was another Spur who won the award on Tuesday, Stephon Castle. He finished ahead of French forward Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks) and Jaylen Wells (Memphis Grizzlies).

Voters gave the Texan guard a clear lead, with 92 of the 100 voting for him first in their rankings, compared to just 5 for Risacher. The latter finished with 245 points, well behind Castle's 482, but comfortably ahead of Wells (123).

Castle (20 years old), chosen with the 4th pick in the 2024 draft, made an immediate impact with the Spurs. Developing an interesting connection with Victor Wembanyama, he inherited the majority of responsibilities after the latter's injury and then the end of De'Aaron Fox's season . The best scorer (14.7 points per game) among rookies eligible for the trophy rewarding the best first-year player, he also distinguished himself thanks to his defensive qualities, often finding himself on the best opposing forward.

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Stephon Castle is the fourth player in Spurs history to be named Rookie of the Year after David Robinson (1990), Tim Duncan (1998) and Victor Wembanyama (2024).

In addition to his regular season performances, he also stood out at All-Star Weekend , putting together a good dunk contest - but didn't win it . Unfortunately for the Spurs, Castle's strong performances weren't enough to qualify for the playoffs or play-in (a record of 34 wins and 48 losses, 13th place in the West).