The Spurs won’t have to wait long to get a real read on Stephon Castle.
Opening week brings a pair of defenses that can make life miserable for any young ball-handler, with San Antonio set to face the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets. Those two teams bring the kind of perimeter pressure that should stress Castle right away, which makes this stretch a clean early test of the offensive growth he’s trying to keep building.
Last season, Mitch Johnson put plenty on Castle’s plate as a creator, and the guard handled it well. He ran one of the NBA’s top offenses, finished as San Antonio’s assist leader, and developed strong chemistry with Victor Wembanyama in the two-man game. His scoring also took a noticeable step forward from his rookie year, giving the Spurs another real weapon in the backcourt.
Still, Castle has clear room to sharpen his game, especially with the ball in his hands. That’s where these first two matchups matter.
Oklahoma City and Houston both come armed with a deep group of defenders on the perimeter. For the Thunder, that includes Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, and Ajay Mitchell.
For the Rockets, the list features Amen Thompson, Marcus Smart, Tari Eason, and Fred VanVleet. That’s a lot of bodies capable of crowding dribblers, disrupting rhythm, and turning possession into a problem.
That kind of pressure is designed to rush opponents into mistakes. Castle dealt with that issue in the playoffs, when he had several costly turnovers, including errant passes and offensive fouls. Against these two teams, he’ll get an immediate chance to show whether he’s cleaner and calmer when the floor tightens up.
It’s the sort of early-season checkpoint that matters. If Castle is going to keep climbing as San Antonio’s lead combo guard, handling aggressive ball pressure has to become a strength.
The same goes for his scoring.
Castle put up 16.7 points per game on 47% shooting last season, then bumped that to 18.2 points on 48% shooting in the playoffs. Those are solid numbers, but the next step is about becoming more dangerous as a self-creator. Oklahoma City and Houston won’t make easy drives to the rim available, so he’ll need to create separation off the dribble and lean more on his jumper.
There have already been signs of that coming together. He showed a capable mid-range game last season and made progress as a three-point shooter, too. The next challenge is turning those flashes into consistent traits.
Castle is getting close to becoming the Spurs’ next All-NBA guard. Another big offensive jump would push him further down that road, and opening week should tell us a lot about how far he’s come.
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