The Spurs head into the 2026-27 season in strong shape, but Stephon Castle still has room to level up. His next step is pretty clear: cleaner offensive decision-making. And if his track record means anything, San Antonio has every reason to believe he’ll sort it out.
Castle’s second season was a huge one, and the playoffs only strengthened that case. He was a dependable scorer, putting up 18.2 points per game while shooting 45.9% from the field and 35% from deep. He also kept giving the Spurs value as a playmaker and defender, and by the end of that run, he looked like one of the NBA’s best all-around guards.
Still, the rough edges showed. As good as he was, his youth came through in the form of turnovers and offensive fouls that stalled San Antonio at key moments. That part of his game clearly needs polish, but the expectation is that his third season will bring a more composed version of Castle.
What makes that belief easy to buy is how quickly he has already grown. The jump from his rookie year to year two was enormous. Castle became one of the Spurs’ main creators and finished as the team leader with 7.4 assists per game.
His shooting followed the same upward path. As a rookie, he hit only 28% of his threes.
By the end of his second season, defenses had to respect him. He knocked down more than 40% of his long-range attempts after the All-Star Break and 35% in the playoffs.
That kind of progression is why the Spurs can trust his development. Castle has shown he can identify what’s holding him back and make real adjustments. That’s a major reason to expect him to be sharper with the ball in year three.
And there’s value in the fact that his flaws were exposed in a deep playoff run. Those kinds of experiences hand a young player a very specific roadmap for improvement. The source points to LeBron refining his jump shot after the 2011 NBA Finals and Giannis overcoming offensive shortcomings on the way to his first championship as examples of that kind of growth.
Castle went through that kind of test in the 2026 postseason, and it gave him a clear sense of how much further he still has to go with his decision-making. With his elite all-around skill set, he’s close to becoming a top-five-level guard in the NBA. If he cleans up his biggest weakness, he won’t just take another step individually - he’ll push the Spurs closer to a championship, too.
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