Off a stellar start to his third season with the San Antonio Spurs, power forward Jeremy Sochan suffered a broken bone (proximal phalanx) in his left thumb in Game 7 against the LA Clippers.

Rookie Stephon Castle isn’t a power forward, but he was interim coach Mitch Johnson’s choice to replace Sochan in the starting lineup. Call it forced small-ball, as Castle, 6-foot-1, was filling in for the 6-8 Sochan, whose 15.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game had him nearly tied with Victor Wembanyama as the most impactful player for Spurs in the first game. week and a half of the season.

To say Castle made the most of this opportunity understates what he showed Johnson and his assistants, teammates, Spurs fans and one particularly consistent foe.

In the immediate aftermath of the Spurs’ 120-115 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first NBA Cup game for both teams on November 15, LeBron James walked straight up to the 20-year-old from the University of Connecticut for a brief break. , but a meaningful conversation that left Castle full of gratitude, respect and certainty that he is on a path to success – this season and beyond.

When asked what he told Castle, whose 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting had given the Spurs a solid chance to record their first-ever In-Season Tournament victory, James left no doubt what he liked number 4. overall pick of the 2024 draft.

“Keep it going, keep it going, man,” James said, repeating his message. ‘He’s going to be special. He’s going to be special, man.”

James had good reason to be impressed with Castle, who had a special moment with the match on the line. The Spurs rookie scored a hard, left-handed layup over James to put the Spurs ahead 115-114.

It would be the final score for the Spurs, with James and Anthony Davis combining for the final six points of the game.

Nevertheless, Castle was suitably moved by the encouragement offered by the player most of Castle’s generation considered the GOAT.

“I mean, to go against LeBron, a guy I’ve been watching since I was a kid, sharing the court with him is definitely insane,” Castle said.

James’ postgame chat with Castle included some tactical advice, as well as the admonition to “keep going.”

“Just looking at reads, continuing what I’m doing and telling me what the next steps are for the reads I’m making,” Castle said. “I mean when I’m painting, playing with two feet, things like that.

“I respect him and appreciate him for coming out and saying that to me. He didn’t have to, but like I said, I’ve been watching him since I was a kid, so for him to come up and talk to me even a little bit meant a lot.

Not one to ignore a superstar’s advice, Castle continued on his path to becoming a special player by helping the Spurs finally earn their first NBA Cup victory, this time with a 110-104 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday evening, despite the absence of Victor Wembanyama (knee contusion), Devin Vassell (sore left knee) and Sochan.

This time, his most impactful play was a block on Thunder MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with just 22 seconds left in what became the best win of the early season for the young Spurs. SGA had started an end-to-end drive after rebounding a Chris Paul three-point miss with 29 seconds left. Castle stayed to the right of the Thunder star, and when SGA rose for what appeared to be a certain basket, Castle timed his jump and hit the ball just as SGA released it.

“I didn’t know which way he was going to go,” Castle said. “But I just tried not to let him get around me or knock me out of the play so I could go up and contest it.”

That he had to make the most timely defensive stop of the game was fitting on a night when Castle struggled offensively. He scored 10 points but shot 3 of 13 and shot 1 of 7 from beyond the three-point arc and committed a team-high seven turnovers. He atoned a bit with eight assists on the season, but the fact that Johnson held him up as a team for 34 minutes and 40 seconds underscores the Spurs basketball staff’s belief that Castle is on his way to stardom.

“There’s no way to gain experience without experience, right?” Johnson said. “It’s one of those tough deals and he made great plays. He made some younger plays, or inexperienced ones, but so did the older guys.”

Sochan is unlikely to return until mid-December at the earliest. Until then, Castle will continue to register starting minutes, more than 30 per match. That should give him a chance to impress the goaltenders on the various NBA rookie ladders who haven’t yet ranked him above 10th in his rookie class.

There is no mystery to his low ranking so far. He got off to a terrible start on the offensive end of the floor. Through his first seven games, he went 15-of-48 (31.3 percent) from the field and an atrocious 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) on three-pointers.

Since becoming a starter, he has improved his offensive efficiency. In his eight starts, he made 37 of 85 shots (43.5 percent) from the field and 13 of 38 (34.2 percent) on three-pointers. He averages 9.9 points per game.

Much of Castle’s improvement can be attributed to his use of a move sometimes called the “slow step” or the “delay,” something that resembles a hybrid of Manu Ginobili’s Euro step and Steph Curry’s hesitation dribble. The Slow Step’s top practitioner, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić, uses it and is an MVP candidate.

Castle learned the slow step after guidance from Mike Noyes, the Spurs assistant and the team’s player development coach. Noyes, like Castle, was a former UConn guard and joined the Spurs in July after spending six years with the Memphis Grizzlies, most recently as director of player development.

“I started working on the slow step with Mike during my first week here, right after the draft,” Castle said. “He taught me that a little bit. I’ve started using it a lot more lately, but I’ve had it for a while now.”

It was Castle’s defensive work at UConn that stood out to NBA talent evaluators, including Spurs general manager Brian Wright and his subordinates. His defensive aggression and behavior during the preseason caught the eye of head coach Gregg Popovich, who labeled Castle a “tough idiot” more than once.

Popovich, now recovering from a mild stroke he suffered on Nov. 2, was among those in the basketball operations department who trusted Castle’s offensive skills would blossom over time. Castle appears to be climbing the offensive learning curve faster than expected, likely because he has accepted the challenge and responsibility of being a starter for The Association.

“I’m feeling good, just leaning on my coaches and teammates,” Castle said. “They always put me in a good position to be successful. They make the game super easy for me, so just go out there and focus on our philosophy, and just trust that. That helped.”

Castle has another quality that Popovich appreciates: going from one play to the next without letting success or failure affect his play. His stoic demeanor is reminiscent of famous Spurs star Tim Duncan.

“I try to stay as balanced as possible,” Castle said. ‘My father always preached about short-term memory. Not hanging my head on a bad play, knowing I can make up for it on the next possession. I always look ahead in the match.”

Castle’s father, Stacey, was Duncan’s teammate at Wake Forest for a season.

Castle still gets plenty of advice from former Wake Forest stars. He shares the backcourt with Chris Paul, who stays in his ear from start to finish of every game.

“Steph probably gets tired of me talking to him all day,” Paul said, “You know what I mean? But I hope he doesn’t because I envy him for his ability and I think about his maturity, right? He has just turned twenty, but he looks like a thirty year old man. He’s just really good on both ends of the field. He’s determined, he’s a competitor and if you see me talking to him all game, I’m probably telling him to shoot the ball, be aggressive or something.

“And I think I remember those days of being much faster and downhill and coming through people, and I know what he’s capable of. I just try to stick with him and when he makes mistakes we live with it because it always comes from a good place.

The Spurs believe the No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft was a good place to be with Castle left in the draft. Like LeBron, they saw something special in Castle and they still do.

(Photo of LeBron James and Stephon Castle: Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)