Coach Mitch Johnson made sure Stephon Castle got the chance to pick up his fourth triple-double of the season in Saturday’s win at Milwaukee, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required).
With the Spurs leading by 32 points midway through the fourth quarter, Johnson observed that Castle was one rebound short of reaching the mark. After being reinserted into the game, it only took Castle 24 seconds to grab the extra board, and he was quickly pulled out after also posting 22 points and 10 assists in 29 minutes.
“I knew I needed one more before I got subbed out, so coach put me back in there,” Castle said.
Orsborn notes that the coaching staff has been urging Castle to improve his rebounding to add another dimension to his skills. He’s averaging 5.1 per game, up from his 3.7 mark as a rookie.
“If I can help our bigs rebound and start our break and keep our pace up, then I feel like it’s a plus,” he said.
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Keldon Johnson scored 16 points, recording his 50th double-digit game off the bench this season, Orsborn states in the same piece. Johnson, who’s a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year honors, is the only player in franchise history to accomplish that feat, having done it last season as well. He also tied a season high with five assists on Saturday.
- De’Aaron Fox and Luke Kornet returned to action after missing Wednesday’s game at Memphis with minor injuries, Orsborn adds. Both players logged 21 minutes against Milwaukee, with Fox posting 12 points and six assists and Kornet finishing with two points, one rebound and a steal.
- Victor Wembanyama is making good on the warning he issued to the rest of the basketball world after his French team had to settle for the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, writes Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News. “I’m learning,” Wembanyama said at the time, “and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years.” He added that he was referring to players “everywhere,” not just in future Olympics. Wembanyama is living up to that statement in 2025/26, putting together an MVP-caliber season and stating his case for the award earlier this week.
Keldon Johnsonnis big time player to me. He should be starting somewhere. He’s a big SG with gane. Someone should trade for him.
Spurs will be tough in playoffs. With the way Wemby is playing. Looking forward to watching them.
You don’t understand KJ. He wants to win and is more than happy to come off the bench to be part of what’s happening in San Antonio. If you know the Spurs – he’s doing exactly what Manu did and Manu is in the hall of fame. Why would he want to start on a lesser team.
Separately I don’t understand why people say KJ is in the running for 6th MoY – no one can close to his impact on their team from that role.
He has one yr left on his contract. He’s gone soon enough. Manu didn’t have 4 guards ahead of him. No one gives up starters money.
Wemb should be MVP with Jovic and GA dropping off.
Defensive PoY for sure. I think he needs to develop his offensive game before he unseats Jokic.
Dylan Harper and Kornet are also a huge reason for the spurs bench success. Now that they’re fully healthy, having HB anchor the bench mob’s discipline is huge. I also think that Bryant took a huge leap since all star. Seems like his jitters passed after the epic dunk contest choke! What a perfect sequence of events.
The Spurs surpassing everybody’s expectation by a landslide should land them every single trophy, including the MVP, DPOY, most improved (Keldon), 6th man (Harper), coach, GM, clutch player, and teammate of the year (Kornet)
Atl really blew the draft last year. It was clear that Castle had the best all around game and the highest ceiling. Clingan was also a very easy safe pick to be a long time and solid pro. They were given such a gift with the first pick and went with an unproven question mark. Imagine either of those guys with the current roster.