Over the course of the regular season, it became clear Stephon Castle was not going to suffer a sophomore slump following up his Rookie of the Year season. Castle, at only 21 years old, improved in every nearly counting stat he could. From points (14.7 per game to 16.7), rebounds (3.7 to 5.3), assis ts (4.1 to 7.4), and effective field goal percentage (47.6 to 52.1), Castle improved his marks. And of course, his trademark trait, his defense, only continued to strike fear into the hearts of the rest of the league. The combo-guard appeared to have only one flaw to his game: shooting. From his first to second year, he rose from 28.5 to 33.2 percent from three; however, it remained at several ticks below league average. And then the playoffs happened. Through two rounds, Castle is now shooting at an outstanding 44.0 percent on 4.5 attempts per game. If he can continue to make teams pay from deep, there is no telling the limit on the offensive capabilities of this Spurs team. The only question is if he can keep it up. Over the recent history of the league, there have been several players who have developed their perimeter shot, turning from complete non-shooters to deadly if left unguarded. Remaining consistent with it, though, that’s another story altogether. For a recent example, look to the Spurs’ previous opponent. Anthony Edwards in Minnesota entered the league as a promising young two-guard, but his three-point shooting was slightly below average. Over time, he built on that. In the 2024-2025 season, he came out of the gate launching from deep, attempting over 10 per game and sinking them at a 41.4 percent clip pre-All-Star break. Time would tell if he could remain consistent. He did. Over his last two seasons, he remained at 39.6 percent at 9.5 attempts per game. Edwards is a case of a player finding his shot and keeping it, but there are examples of a player finding a shot for even a full season, only to then regress towards the mean. Keldon Johnson has had an interesting relationship with his shot in this regard. In Johnson’s third year, it was looking like he might be on the verge of turning into one of the league’s best shooters. He finished the season averaging 39.8 percent from three and 49.5 percent from the corners. But that wouldn’t stick, averaging 33.8 percent over the last four seasons. Still an efficient player, but now in more ways than just shooting. The point is, players’ shooting abilities are malleable. Plenty have developed into real threats: Edwards, Al Horford, and Kawhi Leonard, to name a few. While others have a more fluctuant relationship with their shooting from year to year: Johnson, Jrue Holiday, and even LeBron James have had seasons and post-seasons drifting below and above average shooting. Right now, for Castle, he has the hot hand. And by its nature, the playoffs are a very small sample size. The only thing that will tell if he can keep it up is time. So far, he’s gotten great looks, and he’s picking his spots well. All of his post-season threes are with a defender, at minimum, four feet away, and a good majority are from catch-and-shoot attempts. If he continues to make teams pay for leaving him open, the next level will be how he adjusts to defenses guarding him closer and closing out harder on him. All he needs to do is make them pay for leaving him open. Because even if his percentage goes down due to defenses responding, that just means more levers to pull for Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs. Castle has already shown that he has the athleticism to attack closeouts and the basketball IQ to find the right play. Even if his being more closely guarded leads to the ball not ending up in his hands on the perimeter, that only means more space for De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper to slash and one less defender to bang and hang on Victor Wembanyama down low. For now, the Spurs and Castle can only take it one game at a time, but they show no signs of slowing down entering the conference finals. Oklahoma City’s defense is fast and twitchy; it will be their toughest playoff challenge yet. ...read more read less