NBA community continues delusional conversation around ROY race over for weeks

Stephon Castle is going to win Rookie of the Year, and there should be no doubts about it. That award has been in the bag for weeks, and Spurs fans have been trying to tell this fact to the NBA community for a while now. Fans are one thing—casual fans of other teams aren't going to watch San Antonio games, especially when Victor Wembanyama isn't playing—but analysts and writers should know better.

For some reason, the conversation surrounding this award has been framed as if it was still up for debate. It was as if Alex Sarr, Jaylen Wells, or someone else had a chance to show something that would eclipse the consistently impressive play we've watched from Castle all season. The season is almost over; the ballots will be cast in less than three weeks, and we'll be able to put the nonsense behind us.

Castle is the Rookie of the Year favorite by a mile

The former UConn Husky is the overwhelming favorite to win Rookie of the Year, according to FanDuel, with -700 odds. Alex Sarr is second on the list at +1100. What that basically tells us is that there is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that Castle loses this award. There's simply not enough time, and if you're expecting this kid to fall off a cliff with weeks to go, you've lost your mind.

Steph has only continued to elevate his play in the absence of Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox. Without the two best players on the team, there has been a clear focus to allow the rookie to grow. He's played a bunch of minutes, and his usage rate is sky-high.

You would think that his 0-7 performance in the first half of the Pistons game would be a huge mark on his resume, but he followed it up by bouncing back in the second half by sinking his next seven. He finished the game with 19 points, and even though San Antonio lost the game, you walked away from it, holding firm to the belief that this is a special young player.

In March, he has been averaging 19.9 points, 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. Those numbers should be enough to shut down anyone's question about who should win this trophy.

All-Star Weekend wasn't that long ago, either. He was awesome in the Rising Stars Tournament, and he was impressive in the Dunk Contest. We may not always want narratives to matter during award season, but they do, and Castle has pretty much been the face of the rookie class all year. He'll be securing the award before long, and when it's over, people will wonder why it was a question in the first place.