There’s only one player worth trading Stephon Castle for — and Spurs fans know it

If you're the San Antonio Spurs, you can only reasonably trade Stephon Castle for one player this summer — And that's Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Having just taken home the 2025 Rookie of the Year award, Castle has proven his elite talent and immense potential to be one of the marquee players in this league one day. For that kind of player, you have to be extremely selective in who you're willing to trade him for.

Let's use the Los Angeles Clippers as an example. Back in 2018-19, the Clippers had a promising rookie by the name of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — you may have heard of him. Of course, SGA is now one of the most lethal scorers and best all-around players in the NBA today. But in the summer of 2019, LA gave him up in the trade that got them Paul George.

Sure, it looked like an okay deal at the time. But George was always overpriced in that scenario, even considering the season he had just come off of. And more importantly, the Clippers sacrificed their young star and ended up regretting it big time. Just imagine where that franchise could be now with Gilgeous-Alexander, even if Kawhi Leonard never joined the organization.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the only star SAS should trade Castle for

This scenario serves to teach us an important lesson. When you have a young player the likes of Stephon Castle, even considering including him in a trade package is a decision that has to be handled with the utmost care. If you send him away for the wrong package, you risk wrecking your entire future.

So what, then, is the right package, you might ask? In my mind, it's one that involved the Spurs getting back a top-five player in the league. Yes, I would say you have to be that selective with a talented young star.

San Antonio will probably want to go after a bigger name this summer. But when it comes to who they would consider worth dealing Castle for, it's going to have to be only the best of the best. Who do we consider the five best players in the league today? Let's just say Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards, in some order. You don't have to agree with my selections.

Even if you want to throw Luka Doncic or Stephen Curry in there in place of one of my picks, have at it. That won't change my overall message here: The fact that none of those players except for Antetokounmpo are going to be available this summer.

It certainly sounds like Giannis' time in Milwaukee is going to be up very soon. If that ends up being the case, he becomes the most obvious name the Spurs would want to go after. And yes, don't overthink it — anyone in their right mind would rather have current Giannis Antetokounmpo than current Stephon Castle.