Former UConn Star Shows Off All-Around NBA Game In Professional Debut
The San Antonio Spurs have a blindingly bright future, and a huge reason is a former UConn Huskies star.
San Antonio’s future dominance rests primarily on the shoulders of Victor Wembanyama, of course, but don’t be surprised if former Huskies national champion guard Stephon Castle becomes the second-most important player for the Spurs during the Wemby era.
Castle has that kind of talent, and the most impressive thing about him is that he already possesses an all-around NBA game at 19 years old (turns 20 on November 1).
If Castle can markedly improve his outside shooting (which is already serviceable) as his career develops, he’s going to be not only a good but great NBA player.
An eye test of Castle against NBA athletes always reveals that he’s pound-for-pound as quick and as strong as anyone.
During last night’s season opener for the Spurs (and Castle’s career regular season debut), it didn’t look difficult for Castle to bother Kyrie Irving or Luka Doncic when he got matched up with these superstars.
Simply put, Castle is an elite athlete, even by NBA standards, and his intangibles developed under Dan Hurley at UConn are only going to continue to bloom under Gregg Popovich.
Castle’s box score from Thursday’s opener was well-rounded. In 18 minutes, he scored eight points on 3-for-7 from the field to go along with five assists and three rebounds.
It will be interesting to see how long Popovich can keep Castle’s minutes per game under 20 moving forward. Pop tends to keep talented rookies on a leash to get them to buy in, but Castle is too good to keep off the floor.
He looked like the more dynamic option as a backup point guard to Chris Paul than Tre Jones last night, for one.
Castle also looked like the Spurs’ best perimeter defender, a quality that Popovich will not be able to downplay for long.
More NCAA: NBA Season Begins With Nine Former UConn Players On Active Rosters
-6cddf44b9a81eadb9d1a4c19c1b3db49.jpeg "Colin Keane")
Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for "UConn Huskies On SI." Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "UConn Huskies On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org