Victor Wembanyama says he’s glad Stephon Castle dropped to No. 4 in the 2024 NBA draft because it meant Castle fell to the San Antonio Spurs.
Wembanyama spoke with NBA on Prime about his teammate after both he and Castle recorded double-doubles in a Saturday home win against the Charlotte Hornets.
“Steph has an amazing ability, innate, to playmake and to find open guys,” Wembanyama said Saturday. “There was one pass tonight which didn’t finish in the bucket, but Steph had a drive to the rim, curled it around, left hand, passed to Keldon [Johnson]. These kind of things, you can’t really teach, and he just does it at such a high level, and so regularly.”
Wembanyama continued, “He 100 percent deserved to be the No. 1 pick, but I’m so glad he wasn’t.”
Castle contributed to Saturday’s win with 15 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the field while adding 10 assists, seven rebounds, six turnovers and a steal.
He finished the game with a team-high 37.8 net rating, according to NBA.com.
Wembanyama, who led the Spurs with 32 points in 31 minutes, wasn’t the only Spurs player hyping up Castle on Saturday. Johnson told reporters after the win that Castle should be named a member of the NBA All-Defensive First Team this spring.
The Spurs selected Wembanyama at the top of the 2023 draft one year before bringing in Castle, who came off the board behind the Atlanta Hawks’ Zaccharie Risacher, Washington Wizards’ Alex Sarr and Houston Rockets’ Reed Sheppard.
Castle, the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year, now leads his draft class two years later in both total points (2,121) and points per game (15.5).
His development as a top defensive guard has been a key reason the Spurs have won 49 games for the first time since 2017, and clinched their first postseason berth since 2019, with 15 games still remaining in the season.