Stephon Castle already racing past Dejounte Murray in crazy area

This season has been one full of surprises for Stephon Castle. He's progressed as a shooter, draining 40% of his looks from range through March, and has also been lethal in the mid-range area. But the most glaring development for the second-year guard is his playmaking.

He's posting seven assists per contest through the year, which is a massive leap from his rookie campaign, where he dished out four. Even more impressive, his career assist per game average (5.4) already trumps Dejounte Murray's career average when he was in a Spurs jersey (4.8).

A strange yet unique accomplishment

Dejounte Murray is no slouch as a playmaker. As a matter of fact, he is the Spurs' all-time leader in career triple-doubles, sitting at 17. That's three more than the next person on that list, who just so happens to be David Robinson, one of the most complete centers ever.

But Murray did split playmaking duties with some of his teammates. DeMar DeRozan handled some of that himself and even had seasons where he led San Antonio in assists. So while Dejounte has always had elite passing chops, his role in the offense led to an assist average that didn't reflect his ability as a passer.

Similarly, Castle shares the court with lead ball handlers like De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper. But Mitch Johnson has perfectly crafted an offensive system that prioritizes fit between these guards while giving them the space to grow and develop. For Stephon, this led to massive progress as a facilitator.

Taking advantage of playing with elite talent

It won't be long until Castle is looked at across the league as an elite-level playmaker. He's been great all season at beating defenders off the dribble, getting paint touches, and finding teammates via kickout passes on the perimeter or dump-off feeds to big men. We've also seen flashes of solid pick-and-roll playmaking.

Every sophomore point guard doesn't have the luxury of playing alongside the offensive options that Stephon has, and we've seen him take perfect advantage of this. His ability to facilitate puts players like Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vasell, De'Aaron Fox, and others in a position to get easy baskets.

Perhaps that's another reason why Castle's assist average is superior to Murray's. During his time as San Antonio's starting point guard, Dejounte never played with an offensive talent quite like Wemby, who presents issues that only few NBA teams can hope to solve.

Now, Dejounte definitely had his fair share of talented teammates. Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and DeMar DeRozan should ring a bell, but Castle has a 7'4 demigod, an All-Star point guard, and a lottery pick on call.

So it's one thing to play with a ton of talent and another to take advantage of playing with that talent, and Stephon is doing that at a high level. He's been a huge reason why his teammates have found offensive success this season and why the Spurs are contenders.