The San Antonio Spurs continue to rebuild with promising young stars.
The Spurs rookie was overwhelmingly voted the winner with 92 first-place votes out of 100 ballots, and a total of 482 points. First overall pick Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks finished second with five first-place votes and 245 points. Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies finished third with three first-place votes and a total of 123 votes.
The No. 4 pick in the 2024 NBA draft out of Connecticut, Castle gives San Antonio back-to-back seasons with the league’s top rookie after Victor Wembanyama won the award last season. Castle was clear cut one of the best rookies as he led the freshmen class with 14.7 points per game and a rookie-high 74 steals this season. He was an iron man as he played 81 games in his first season, tied with Detroit’s Ron Holland for the second-most among rookies after Washington’s Bub Carrington played in all 82 regular-season games.
Castle was brought in to be a key piece of the backcourt as Wembanyama continued to establish himself as the future of a San Antonio team that hasn’t been in the playoffs since the 2018-19 season.
With solid size and the ability to play anywhere on the court, Castle showed flashes of potential in the early stages of his professional career, but he really showed how valuable he is after Wembanyama was ruled out for the season in February. After the All-Star break, Castle averaged 17.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5,0 assists and a steal per game as he forced his way into becoming a starter.
Despite the loss of Wembanyaama, De’Aron Fox and coach Gregg Popovich due to health issues, Castle and San Antonio finished the season 34-48, the most wins in the past four seasons.
Castle is the fourth Spurs player to win Rookie of the Year, joining Wembanyama, Tim Duncan in 1997-98 and David Robinson in 1989-90. The four rookie awards by San Antonio are tied with the Portland Trail Blazers and Wizards for the third-most in NBA history. However, the Spurs are the only team to have four rookie award winners in the past 35 years.
It is the second time in the past 50 years a team had back-to-back rookie award winners, the last being in 2015 and 2016 when Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns did so for the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s the fourth time in league history as Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld won it with the Baltimore Bullets in 1968 and 1969 and Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio of the Buffalo Braves did it in 1973 and 1974.
(This story has been updated with voting results.)