stephon castle's All-NBA case has moved from quiet possibility to real contention as season-ending injuries to Cade Cunningham, Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards shrink the pool of eligible stars. The San Antonio Spurs guard has also stayed in the race as the NBA's 65-game minimum filters out more names from award ballots.
Castle and the Spurs core
Castle has become a stronger candidate in his second season because his all-around play has been instrumental in San Antonio's success. He has arguably been the second-best player on the second-best team in the NBA this season, a profile that now carries more weight as the league's award race tightens.
Victor Wembanyama is seemingly a lock for Defensive Player of the Year, and Keldon Johnson is a strong candidate for Sixth Man of the Year. That leaves Castle as the Spurs player with the clearest path into one of the league's top honors, even though the conversation around him has been quieter than the noise around more established names.
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Bill Simmons on Castle
Bill Simmons recently made a case for Castle to make All-NBA even before the injuries to Cunningham, Doncic and Edwards changed the field further. The case turned on Castle's production holding up against players with bigger reputations, while the 65-game minimum kept doing its work in the background.
That mix has changed the practical stakes for San Antonio. If Castle earns All-NBA honors in his second season, he could qualify for a rookie max contract that would pay him well over $200 million, a number that would shape how the Spurs plan around their young core.
San Antonio's award race
The immediate issue for San Antonio is no longer whether Castle belongs in the discussion. It is how many other star names disappear from that discussion before ballots are set, and whether Castle keeps the same all-around level through the end of the regular season while the award field keeps narrowing around him.
