Stephon Castle is quietly poised for a breakout season

It's not often that a reigning Rookie of the Year becomes the forgotten man on his own team, but that is the odd place Stephon Castle occupies right now. That's not his fault, it's a product of the San Antonio Spurs adding point guards De'Aaron Fox via trade and Dylan Harper in the NBA Draft. Both great moves, for the record, but also moves that crowd the backcourt. Typically, if a guy wins ROY, the next move is to build around him, not cut into his minutes.

But what if Castle, who has become a forgotten man in the Spurs guard group, steps up even more in 2025-26 instead of taking a backseat? It's probably more realistic than it seems, because outside of De'Aaron Fox, there aren't any sure things in the Spurs backcourt.

Dylan Harper is going to be an excellent player — but he's starting his rookie season injured, and he'll be 19 years old most of the season. Expecting high-level production from him off the bat isn't fair or realistic. Hence, I don't think there will be a logjam at guard quite yet.

The other guard on the roster, Jordan McLaughlin, will play spot minutes but won't cut into Castle's minutes or touches. So while Fox will surely be more of an on-ball factor than Chris Paul was last season, I foresee that actually helping Castle's volume and efficiency increase on offense.

Plus, he played just 26 minutes per game last year — expect that number to jump considerably, too.

While most attention has been focused on Harper and Fox this offseason, I'm starting to think we're overlooking an obvious breakout candidate in Castle. He was almost a positive-impact player last season. For a rookie, that's all you can ask for. In year two, I think he grows into a guy who Mitch Johnson can seldom take off the court because his skillset fits with virtually any lineup around him.

Stephon Castle's future with the Spurs will be intriguing to monitor

With all this being said — eventually, Harper will be ready to take on a big role, and at that point, the Spurs three-guard "problem" will be worth monitoring. Even though having three guys who are good enough to be franchise cornerstones is far from the worst problem to have. Unfortunately, the NBA's current salary cap rules make longevity hard to come by. But that's a problem for a different day.

For the time being, I think there's a pretty clear pecking order in the backcourt. Fox will be the go-to guy, Castle will be an elite secondary ball-handler and complementary piece, and Harper will be allowed to figure out the NBA game at his own pace.