Stephon

Castle

The Spurs could be without two key players on Monday. If Castle is sidelined, Julian Champagnie could see an uptick in playing time, and if Sochan sits, Keldon Johnson could earn some additional minutes.

The Spurs are without Jeremy Sochan, who will not play due to lower back tightness. Castle replaces him in the starting lineup, and the rookie is worthy of streaming consideration in deep leagues.

Sochan has been sidelined for nearly a month, but he is expected to make his return to the lineup for this game. Stephon Castle entered the starting lineup when Sochan went down, but it will likely be Julian Champagnie that is pushed out of the starting lineup.

The Spurs were without the majority of their starting unit for this game, which allowed Castle to step up on the offensive end. The rookie has had his ups and downs during the preseason, which will likely continue during the regular season, which will start next week. Castle is an intriguing upside play in the later rounds, but most of his fantasy value will be found in dynasty leagues. Still, managers have to be happy with what they’ve seen from him so far regardless of league format.

This is the type of performance that managers want to see. He showed flashes during his first preseason outing, but we need it to show up in the box score. He knocked down triples, swiped steals and contributed across the board in the stat sheet. Castle also only had one turnover after having six in his preseason debut. Hopefully we’ll see more performances like this from him as the regular season approaches.

Castle did have a fun poster dunk in this game, but the rest of his performance was lackluster. He turned it over a lot and didn’t even attempt a 3-pointer. The Spurs selected him with the No. 4 pick in June, and they’ll be hoping that he is far more productive moving forward than he was in this game. It wasn’t a great debut, but the good news is that it can’t get much worse.

Castle injured his wrist during Saturday’s win over Portland, which was also one of his best summer performances. Between the California Classic and Saturday, the Spurs likely saw all they needed from their lottery pick. The injury is not considered to be serious, so Castle should be a full go when training camp begins in September.

Playing against college teammate Donovan Clingan, Castle left the Thomas & Mack Center with bragging rights on Saturday night. He didn’t have his best night shooting the basketball, and the rookie guard was also responsible for five turnovers, but that isn’t something for fantasy managers to be worried about. Castle played well in Salt Lake City, and the overall performance on Friday was encouraging. During an in-game interview, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spoke highly of Castle, saying he will be a “quick study.” Castle should be one of the first rookies off the board in drafts this fall.

Shooting was considered a weakness for Castle entering the draft, but he showcased some shooting ability during their first Summer League game by knocking down two triples. However, he missed all six of his attempts from beyond the arc on Tuesday. Castle did other things well on both ends of the ball and showcased some playmaking skills, which is encouraging to see. However, until he proves otherwise, the perimeter shooting will continue to be a question mark. He averaged less than a steal per game in college despite being a really good defender. If he can continue to swipe the ball away like he did in this game, he could be an intriguing fantasy option.

Castle, the fifth overall pick in last month’s draft, did not finish as well as he could in his Spurs’ summer league debut. However, a positive takeaway from Saturday’s defeat was the former UConn standout shooting 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Castle shot below 27% from three during his lone college season, and that was on a roster with multiple capable perimeter shooters. He’ll have more opportunities to show what he can do in San Antonio, and adding Chris Paul to the roster should only help the rookie get acclimated to the NBA game. Castle should be one of the first rookies selected in drafts, especially in dynasty leagues.