Stephon Castle made no secret about it: He wanted to be rookie of the year.
And he got it done — by a wide margin.
The San Antonio Spurs now have back-to-back winners of the award, with Victor Wembanyama last year and Castle this season. Castle was the fifth rookie in Spurs history to score more than 1,000 points.
It was one-sided in the voting. Castle got 92 first-place votes, easily topping runner-up Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks and third-place finisher Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies. Risacher got five first-place votes, Wells got the other three.
“Coming in with all the confidence that I had in myself as a player, that was definitely a goal of mine from Day 1,” Castle said on TNT, which broadcast the unveiling of the results. “I’m just happy I was able to execute it.”
Castle’s win marked the second time in more than a half-century that one franchise went back-to-back with the top-rookie honor. Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins (now of Miami) and Karl-Anthony Towns (now of New York) were voted rookies of the year in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The last instance of a team going back-to-back before that: 1973 and 1974, when Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio pulled it off for the Buffalo Braves.
“I get so excited watching him play,” said Chris Paul, Castle’s backcourt mate this season in San Antonio. “The first thing that I want to see in a teammate or anybody is how competitive they are. That’ll take you further than talent any day. And I saw immediately was that he was competitive. I was like, ‘OK, cool. This is going to be easy.’”
Castle led all rookies this season in points (1,190) and steals (74). Risacher finished strong, winning Eastern Conference rookie of the month for both February and March. Wells led all rookies in games started (74) and 3-pointers made (138, matching the total posted by Washington’s Bub Carrington).
Risacher — who hails from France, like Wembanyama — was looking to give the NBA the first instance of international players winning the award in consecutive years since Australia’s Ben Simmons and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic in 2018 and 2019. Wells was bidding to be Memphis’ first rookie of the year since Ja Morant in 2020.
The rookie of the year award was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly after the end of the regular season.
Washington’s Alex Sarr was fourth in the voting, followed by Memphis’ Zach Edey in fifth and Miami’s Kel’el Ware in sixth. Philadelphia’s Jared McCain — who was off to a great start before getting hurt — and Chicago’s Matas Buzelis finished tied for seventh in the voting.
The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Cleveland’s Evan Mobley winning defensive player of the year, New York’s Jalen Brunson winning clutch player of the year, and Boston’s Payton Pritchard winning sixth man of the year.
On Wednesday, the most improved player — Cade Cunningham of Detroit, Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers — will be announced.
Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award and Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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