Stephon Castle is the key to Spurs neutralizing Karl-Anthony Towns in NBA Finals

When the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs meet in the 2026 NBA Finals, all eyes will be on Karl-Anthony Towns. Jalen Brunson has been the superstar closing out wins, but New York has shifted its offense to run through Towns and learned to rely on him for reputation-defying quality on defense.

Though the defensive burden will fall to Victor Wembanyama to slow Towns down, it's Stephon Castle who can truly neutralize the All-Star big man with his scoring.

Towns has taken a fairly new approach during the 2026 NBA Playoffs, focusing less on his scoring and more on his defense and playmaking. The results have been remarkable, as he's averaged just 9.9 field goal attempts, but 5.9 assists per game.

A big man's postseason impact is typically only as strong as the defense they play, however, which makes it essential for San Antonio to take Towns out of his element.

Towns will likely spend a healthy portion of his minutes defending Wembanyama, but pulling him away from the paint and out into space should be a priority. With screens and forced rotations, San Antonio must aspire to ensure that Castle gets a strong number of chances to isolate Towns.

In addition to being one of the best players on the Spurs' roster, Castle has made a living out of decimating centers in space during the 2026 NBA Playoffs.

Stephon Castle has dominated against centers during 2026 NBA Playoffs

There's a growing expectation that the Knicks will place OG Anunoby on Wembanyama on a regular basis due to his success in defending him during the regular season. Conventional wisdom says that putting Towns on a non-shooting wing is thus the logical approach.

According to Michael Pina of The Ringer, that would be a disastrous decision for the Knicks to make considering Castle is shooting 12-of-24 on threes against centers this postseason.

"The big question from there (at least when both starting lineups are on the court) is who will Towns guard, if not Wemby? Sticking him on Stephon Castle to neutralize Area 51 and (theoretically) force a so-so outside shooter to settle for a bunch of outside shots sounds convenient enough on paper but it’s been a disaster in practice. Just ask Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan how that went. Castle can’t be ignored. He’s already too canny and physical, and currently 12-for-24 behind the 3-point line when guarded by a center in these playoffs."

With this in mind, Castle is the perfect player to turn Towns' two-way brilliance into an imbalanced effort to impact the game during the NBA Finals.

Stephon Castle is 12/24 on 3s against centers this postseason

Much of what Towns has accomplished this postseason has been built on his ability to pace the Knicks through games. With strong defensive play as something of a platform to build upon, Towns' fairly passive scoring attempts have been easily forgiven as he's instead impacted games in a well-rounded manner.

By exploiting potential switches against Towns, Castle can go a long way toward neutralizing the big man's impact.

If Towns' defense is turned into a weakness, then simply putting up respectable points while facilitating at a high level won't be enough against Wembanyama. The Knicks will need their All-Star to take over games with his scoring to keep the pace down low, particularly if Castle and his perimeter teammates can match Brunson and company.

Considering Towns has scored fewer than 20 points in nine of his past 10 playoff games, it's fair to question if that's a hill he can climb against Wembanyama. Castle can make it so he has to.

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