SAN ANTONIO — Donning his Fiesta jersey, clutching a basketball in his left hand, Stephon Castle sat down, looked up and extended his hand toward the camera.
The San Antonio Spurs’ reigning Rookie of the Year was now a solo cover boy.
“Super grateful,” Castle said on Friday of joining Victor Wembanyama and Tim Duncan in the Spurs’ SLAM Magazine club. “To be on there by myself was obviously a big deal.”
Castle has done photoshoots before. Media day at UConn during his freshman year prepared him for the experience last season in San Antonio. By the time Year 2 rolled around, he had the process down. He also earned himself a reputation all the Spurs shouldered.
“We have a target on our back,” Castle said during his SLAM shoot.
He was right. Yet such a dynamic was still new for the Spurs. Upon Castle’s arrival, the young squad had a ceiling sitting just above the Play-In Tournament. Injuries to both Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox prevented them from reaching even that high.
Before that season, Castle sat on a bench and explained the dream it was for him to be in the NBA. Since then, he’s become one of its premier two-way talents.
With his first playoff series waiting, the 21-year-old is dreaming again.
“It feels good to be playing games that matter,” Castle said after his third playoff practice on Friday. “I don’t know too much about what it’ll be like game to game. But so far, these practices have been super fun, super intense. Everybody is locked in.”
The Spurs have a tall task in front of them in the first round. After learning they drew the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, they began film study — a more detailed and “intense” breakdown than usual — and determined where to place their defensive focus.
Portland thrives in fast-paced settings. It generated the seventh-most turnovers in the NBA through the regular season, and finished ninth in total PACE. Leading that charge is Deni Avdija, who made his first All-Star appearance in February and finished the regular season averaging 24 points per game — just behind Wembanyama.
Against the Spurs this season, that figured jumped to 31.7 points, making him Portland’s “head of the snake.” In that sense, Castle wants to play “mongoose.”
“Steph is ready to take that challenge,” Devin Vassell said on Wednesday. “That’s what he’s been talking about the last couple of days. He takes pride in guarding the ball.”
Castle has earned rightful praise from around the league for his willingness to take on opposing teams’ best player. He’s made nights difficult for Alperen Şengün, Devin Booker and even Nikola Jokić, all of whom walked away with further respect for the guard.
Tasked with the toughest perimeter matchups, Castle anchored lineups that produced a 102.7 defensive rating and a plus-40 scoring margin in his minutes, absorbing contact and forcing offenses into late-clock possessions rather than clean initiations.
“That’s his worth,” Wembanyama said. “He can shut down guys.”
As the Spurs jumped from win streak to win streak this season, they found success from several key pieces. Harrison Barnes, who finished the year averaging 9.9 points, fell five points shorts of helping San Antonio secure an NBA-record eight players with double-figure scoring averages. Among them was Castle, who seldom fails to impact winning.
“His individual growth is a big reason for our collective growth,” Luke Kornet said. “It’s all hand-in-hand. As a competitor, (I’m happy) that he wants to keep growing for the sake of playing basketball and competing against the guy across from (him).”
Kornet paused before putting it simply: “He’s also a pretty fun player.”
While Castle has grown accustomed to chasing Steph Curry and toning down his physicality against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he only sees the pair a handful of times per season.
Over the next two weeks, he’ll get very comfortable with Avdija and the Trail Blazers.
“You know what he wants to do,” Fox said of the matchup. “He knows what he wants to do. I think the arena knows what he wants to do. But can you stop it? You’re not going to shut him down … you just try to make his night as inefficient as possible.”
Castle often roams that space, caught between his own cool demeanor and that of the opponents unlucky enough to draw him as their primary defender. Sunday evening, he’ll enter it once again with the highest stakes of his career to date hanging in balance.
“(I’m) just trying to do everything the same way,” Castle began, “and the right way.”
In the same way Castle joined Wembanyama and Duncan as the third Spur to grace SLAM magazine solo, he hopes to join the long list of postseason risers San Antonio has produced.
“It’s super exciting to play with Steph,” Wembanyama said four days before Game 1. “I know he’s played on big stages before, as well, so I know it’s going to be fun.”
If you asked Castle’s teammates to endorse him on his defense, they’d sing his praises endlessly. If you asked them about his personality, they’d justify it. They’d even wear shirts with his face plastered on them. But they’re careful not to inflate his ego too much.
“That’s uh,” Kornet began, thinking long and hard about whether Castle has a career in modeling following his playing days. “I don’t know.”
Perhaps one magazine shoot was enough. The door remains open, however. Castle might want to add another to his résumé — one that bests Wembanyama’s rookie edition.
Is his most recent shoot already at that mark? It’s out of his hands.
“I don’t know,” Castle said, smiling. “That’s for other people to say.”
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