Stephon Castle received an injury report ahead of the showdown against the Knicks
San Antonio Spurs star guardian Stephen Castle was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report the day before the New Year’s Day game against the New York Knicks. The Spurs indicate the second-year guard is dealing with a strained left thumb. Stress in Castle’s left hip has caused him to miss nine games since mid-November until the first week of December.
The reigning The rookie of the year played 34 minutesscoring 15 points, eight assists and four rebounds in a 113-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the night before this latest injury report. That score corresponds to his worst score of a December 16 defeat to the Knicks 124-113 in the NBA Cup finals.
For the season, the former UConn standout averaged 18.5 points, seven assists and five rebounds in just under 31 minutes. Defensively, he averages more than a steal per contest routinely guarding the opposition’s best player on the perimeter. Castle’s playing was instrumental in the The spurt of the Spurs to the top of the NBA tablealthough this thumb problem comes as his team has lost two in a row after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder twice in a row to snap an eight-game winning streak.
Having recently turned 21, Castle’s production is significantly higher than last season, when he won the NBA’s first-year player award. He averaged 14.7 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds in nearly 27 minutes a night. Despite season-ending injuries to Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, the Spurs won 12 games more than a year before Castle’s arrival.
When San Antonio meets New York in the final game of 2025, it will serve as a matchup of teams sitting in second place in their conference standings. The Silver and Black trail only OKC, against whom Kast has enjoyed three very good games three wins. The Knickerbockers’ 23-9 mark — both the Knicks and Spurs have the same record — ranks just one game behind the Detroit Pistons.
Spurs fellow perimeter player Devin Vassell has already been ruled out of the contest.
2025-12-31 02:20:00
