Stephon Castle is having one more shining moment with NBA Rookie of the Year lead widening

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter.Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes.

I want to be real careful with what I’m about to say here, because the last time I called an award race early, it nearly came back to bite me as Lamar Jackson closed on Josh Allen in the final weeks of the NFL season before falling just short of the MVP award. Ultimately, though, that turned out to be right, and I think this will too, because all signs point to the NBA Rookie of the Year race being over. The winner is going to be San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle.

One year after winning a national championship in his one season with the UConn Huskies, Castle is well on his way to earning more hardware. His -800 odds at BetMGM to win Rookie of the Year are up from -450 a week ago and -225 two weeks ago, leading the field by quite a bit. No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher is the next closest at +1800. With less than a month left in the season, Castle is pulling away.

By my count, he'd be the first player to win a national championship and Rookie of the Year in consecutive years since another UConn great, Emeka Okafor, did it in 2004-05.

It'll be a well-earned win for the 20-year-old and Rising Stars Game MVP. He's tied for fourth among rookies in games played at 66, and of the players with enough games for ROY consideration, he leads them all in scoring at 13.8 points per game. Castle is also second in steals (0.9), fourth in assists (3.5), fourth in offensive rating, and he averages 3.2 rebounds. Not to mention, his numbers have only gotten better as the season has progressed.

In March, Castle is averaging 20.6 points through 10 games, including a second-career 30-point game when he dropped 32 on the Western Conference-leading Thunder -- who have the NBA’s best defense -- and made a career-high four 3-pointers. He’s showing the kind of scoring prowess he flashed in Connecticut, where he averaged 11 points as a freshman and made himself into the No. 4 pick of last year’s draft.

Stephon Castle over his last 10 games:

- 20.6 PPG
- 4.3 RPG
- 4.1 APG
- 49% FG
- 58% TS

He’s leading all rookies in scoring by over 150 points 😳 pic.twitter.com/ByEfgG0FLd
— The Lead (@TheLeadSM) March 18, 2025

Castle's defense is coming along too, according to his veteran teammates. "There are definitely All-Defensive awards in his future," Harrison Barnes said, via a recent story by Athlon Sports. Chris Paul said, "He’s a two-way player. He defends. He doesn’t duck matchups."

This is all to say Castle is on his way to becoming a special player in the NBA for a long time, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The former 5-star recruit had BetMGM’s third-best chance to win Rookie of the Year when odds opened last summer. It does feel a bit unfair, though. While Castle was having his first shining moment in the NCAA tournament a year ago, Victor Wembanyama was winning Rookie of the Year for the Spurs. Somehow, NBA teams let San Antonio end up with the NBA’s best rookie again.

Q&A with future lottery pick Dylan Harper

Mar 12, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Dylan Harper (2) shoots the ball while USC Trojans guard Desmond Claude (1) defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

One player who won't be using the tournament to boost his draft stock this March is Dylan Harper, whose Rutgers squad didn't qualify for the tournament. Then again, Harper doesn't really need to show much else to have his name called with one of the first picks. He's solidified.

Our Bryan Kalbrosky caught up with Harper to talk about his incredible season at Rutgers and more, including playing with fellow draft lottery prospect Ace Bailey:

"My favorite part about him is the joy he brings to the game. No matter what is going on, he is going to have high energy and things like that. He is one of those guys who at 6-foot-10, you can give the ball to him, and he can get a bucket at will. That’s really him. He knows how to use his body and get to his spots. There’s no complaints about playing with him at all."

You should definitely check out the full convo with Harper. You'll be hearing his name a lot real soon.

Shootaround

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Stephon Castle opens NBA Rookie of the Year lead by a wide margin

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Stephon Castle is having one more shining moment with NBA Rookie of the Year lead widening

Q&A with future lottery pick Dylan Harper

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