Stephon Castle's Leap: From Raw Rookie to Two-Way Spurs Cornerstone
Castle bumped his scoring by two points and boosted assists 80% in 2025-26 — but he's still a 33.2% shooter. Here's what it means for your roster.
Defense-first guard whose scoring and assists are still trending up.
- 39 players scored more per game (min 65 GP) in 2025-26
- 3-point shooting still a below-average 33.2%
- +80% assists year-over-year in 2025-26
- EFG% jumped 4.5 points from rookie season
- Four points shy of second-team All-Defense
Stephon Castle didn't arrive in the NBA as a finished product — he arrived as a project with grown-man strength and a bad jumper. In 2025-26 he answered a lot of the doubts: his scoring average climbed by two points, his effective field-goal percentage rose 4.5 points, and he handed out 80 percent more assists than he did as a rookie. That's the kind of second-year jump that separates rotation guys from building blocks.
The catch is that Castle still isn't a shooter you fear from deep. He hit just 33.2% from three last season (2025-26), and 39 players put up more points per game among those who logged at least 65 games. But his value was never going to live on a box score alone — he finished four points shy of a second-team All-Defense nod, guarding everyone from Julius Randle in the paint during round two to quick guards out on the perimeter.
Why San Antonio Trusts Him
The Spurs don't hand out roles quickly, but Castle earned his. His Rookie of the Year run in 2024-25 came largely because he shouldered a bigger load after Victor Wembanyama went down with a blood clot — his usage actually rose and his efficiency held. Chris Paul reportedly saw a kindred competitive streak in him, and Castle spent last season absorbing Paul's playmaking habits while De'Aaron Fox rehabbed his hamstring.
Fox himself put up 18.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists across 72 games in 2025-26, good for 34.7 fantasy points per game and our No. 54 overall rank. The comparison that matters most, though, is Jrue Holiday — a winning, defense-first guard our model slots at No. 78 (16.3 points, 6.1 assists, 31.5 fantasy points per game last season). Think of Castle as a younger, higher-ceiling version of that archetype.
The Fantasy Fallout
Here's the honest read: Castle is a better real-life player than a fantasy stud right now, because defense and hustle don't fill a standard box-score cheat sheet the way scoring and threes do. If your league rewards steals, deflections and stocks, he's more valuable than his points total suggests. If it's pure counting stats, temper expectations until that jumper stabilizes.
Verdict: buy low while the market still prices him as a defense-only guy. Every arrow is pointing up — usage, assists, efficiency — and a third-year shooting bump would vault him into every-week starter territory. Grab the shares now before the rest of your league catches on.
