Spurs’ Stephon Castle is runaway winner of NBA Rookie of the Year award

Stephen Castle was not the wire-to-wire winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award, however, by the time the race neared the finish line, he had run away from the rest of his class.

Castle was the landslide winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award, getting 92 of a possible 100 first-place votes on his way to becoming the second consecutive San Antonio player to win the award (Victor Wembanyama won a year ago).

The last team with back-to-back Rookies of the Year? The Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015 and 2016 with Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.

No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher of Atlanta finished second, while second-round pick Jaylen Wells of Memphis finished third in the voting of a select panel of media members. The Wizards’ Alex Sarr and the Grizzlies’ Zach Edey rounded out the top five.

Castle was considered one of the leading candidates to win ROY from the moment San Antonio drafted him. However, he started the season as the No. 3 option (at best) in the Spurs offense, which meant he wasn’t putting up numbers. Castle averaged 5.6 points a game off the bench in October, and by December he was averaging an inefficient 10.3 points a game (with an unimpressive 46.6 true shooting percentage). What kept him playing was his defense, because from Day 1 he was asked to guard opponents’ top perimeter scorers and held his own for a rookie.

With Chris Paul as a mentor, Castle grew and evolved as the season progressed — he was named the Rising Stars MVP for All-Star Weekend and competed in the Dunk Contest. By the end of the season, when Victor Wembanyama was in street clothes, Castle had grown into the primary offensive threat in the Spurs’ offense. After the All-Star break, with the ball in his hands, Castle averaged 17.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5 assists a night (in March, Castle was averaging 19.5 points a night with a 54.6 true shooting percentage, close to the league average).

Like Castle (but even more so), Zaccharie Risacher started the season slowly and came on at the end, averaging 16.3 points a game in March. Jaylen Wells had a consistent year for the Grizzlies, playing in critical games throughout the season (his teammate, Zach Edey, came in fifth in the voting and could easily have made this list).