Stephon Castle wins Rising Stars MVP, advances to All-Star game

Castle’s played facilitator in his first win before carrying his team to the championship and on to Sunday.

Spurs rookie Stephon Castle has been on the rise over the last few weeks, and it continued to kick off All-Star weekend in the Rising Stars Challenge.

Starting for Team C in Game 1 alongside Zach Edey, Keyonte George, Dalton Knecht and Jaylen Wells, Castle’s team got out to a 19-7 start and never trailed, despite allowing Team T to make it interesting a few times. Castle himself mostly played the role of play-maker with several nice assists and hockey assists to set up his teammates in transition, plus an almost-windmill dunk in which he lost the ball on the way up, but his forward momentum still somehow sent the ball in.

He finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, including the game-winner to send his team to the Game 3, 40-34.

Team G League upset Team M in a much more competitive Game 2 to set up the finale. Castle once again started Game 3, which was a case of rest vs. rhythm. Castle helped get his team up off the mat by driving to the rim, but overall Team G League took advantage of being in rhythm, getting out to a 12-8 lead. After the timeout, Castle played a major role in his team shaking off the rust and going on a 17-2 run to win the game 25-14, again assisting the game winner, this time to George for the three.

Castle finished the game with a team-leading 12 points and 2 assists and was awarded MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge. With the win, Team C advances to play as the fourth team in the All Star game on Sunday, meaning he will now appear all three days of All Star weekend, including tomorrow in the Slam Dunk Contest. Steph is off to a hot start, so stay tuned!

Other observations

• The arena announcer described Castle as a “play-making, point-of-attack defender” in the intros, which is accurate, but then he described Edey as a “serious candidate for Rookie of the Year”. I hate to say it, but Edey isn’t even the favorite for ROY on his own team. That would be Wells, but regardless, as of now, Castle is running away with it.
• Having seen him in both college at Arkansas and now two years with the Orlando Magic, I barely recognized Anthony Black with his hair braids. I only know him with his free flowing fro, so his face was barely recognizable when it was fully visible.
• In Game 1, Alex Sarr hit a three while Edey was contesting. Seven-footer on seven-footer crimes on the perimeter used to be unheard of, and it’s still rare when you consider that centers don’t often guard the perimeter, even if it’s their own man, but it’s becoming more common with players like Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama leading a new era.
• “Defense-optional” has reached the Rising Stars challenge. I get that players don’t want to hurt each other or themselves, but it will not make Adam Silver happy. I’ve never been a huge fan of All Star Weekend, and this doesn’t help. (In fairness, the defensive level picked up in Game 2 and carried over to Game 3 since there was more to play for. Hopefully that carries over into the actual All Star game.)
• The Thompson twins were a joy to watch together and were arguably the co-MVP’s for Team M, but Ausur largely cost them Game 2 to Team G League after he missed four straight free throws, all hitting the front rim. Along with another miss from Toumani Camara, Team M missed five straight FT’s while sitting at 35 points. Making them would have won the game, but instead, G League made the comeback, winning on a contested three-pointer by Bryce McGowens to set up Game 3.