Stephon Castle won a national championship with the University of Connecticut in his lone college season. The 20-year-old wing has now earned a major individual accolade – the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Castle is the second consecutive San Antonio player to win it. Victor Wembanyama captured the award last spring.
Castle appeared in all but one of the Spurs’ games this season after being selected with the No. 4 overall pick last June. He averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 0.9 steals in 26.7 minutes per game. Castle, who started 47 games, shot 42.8 percent from the field.
Castle became a consistent offensive force as the season progressed and reached the 20-point mark 26 times.
That was enough for him take down the top prize by a landslide over the two other finalists.
Top pick Zaccharie Risacher appeared in 75 games, including 73 starts, for the Hawks. The 6’8’’ forward finished the season with averages of 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists shot 45.8 percent from the field overall and 35.5 percent from long range. Risacher scored 30 or more points in four games.
Jaylen Wells proved to be a diamond in the rough for the Grizzlies. The 39th overall pick started 74 of the 79 games in which he played. Wells wasn’t a big part of Memphis’ offense but still averaged 10.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Castle received 92 of a possible 100 votes from a global media panel and accumulated 482 points, NBA Communications tweets. Risacher had five first-place votes and 245 points while Wells received three first-place votes and 123 points.
Castle’s scoring average is the second lowest among ROY winners in the last 22 seasons. Only Malcolm Brogdon (2017) had a lower average (10.2) during that span.