From a two-time national championship coach to a five-time champion. From a program that's established a culture to a franchise that helped make the term relevant in sports. Stephon Castle is thrilled to go from Dan Hurley and the UConn Basketball to Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.
“I was just playing for the best coach in college basketball and now I'm going to flip to the NBA and playing for a legendary coach like Coach Pop,” Castle said after San Antonio took him with the fourth pick of the first round.
“It's definitely a blessing. On the coaching side of things, it's not really a big coaching change from UConn to San Antonio. Just being out there during the pre draft process, you can tell that it's a hard working program, super hard-nosed. I can't just wait to go out there and show what I got.”
Castle worked out for the Spurs leading up to the NBA Draft.
Stephon Castle on joining the Spurs
An early favorite to win Rookie of the Year, the 6-foot-6 guard is processing entering the NBA.
“It's really hard to prepare for that moment. It's just a lot of emotion running through your head especially when you hear your name being called,” Castle said. “On the basketball side of things, always keep your head down, always working, just staying humble and just having all that self confidence in myself that everything's going to work out.”
Castle was slotted to the Spurs in many reputable mock drafts ahead of Wednesday. He happened to don the Spurs colors that night with a black shirt and a silver glittery coat.
“What I picked for the draft, it wasn't intentional. I guess it all really worked out. I guess I kind of manifested it to happen for me,” he revealed. “I wasn't really expecting anybody to pick me up. I didn't have any expectations coming in, I was open minded to really everything. I'm happy that it went the way that it did. I'm super blessed for the Spurs organization taking a chance on me and I just can't wait to get out there.”
Last year's Big East Freshman of the Year is joining a franchise that over the last 25 years has cemented itself as one of the best in league history. Now he'll be joining forces with the generational Victor Wembanyama.
“We were just talking about coming down to San Antonio, just can't wait to get to work. We're excited for our future and excited for this upcoming season,” Castle said of a draft night conversation with Wembanyama.
Raised in Covington, Georgia, Castle has New York roots and plans to savor the time as he heads to the Alamo City.
“The last thing I do is probably just celebrate with family. I was born in New York so I have a lot of family out at the draft so just doing whatever I can to show how much appreciation I have toward them for all their support right before I go out to San Antonio and start my next journey.”
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