Why Stephon Castle should be out of bounds in Spurs’ trade interviews

Chris Paul sees what is coming. That’s why he keeps the young Fella so close. He wants to make sure Stephon Castle sees it too.

The game has been over for an hour, but Paul still hasn’t stopped yapping. Around Castle, the old Point Guard never makes.

Spurs -rookie calls him “UNC”, partly as a joke, but most of the respect. On the other hand, Paul specifies everything his basketball nephew does wrong, and everything he does right, and he sounds like he means it when he says the child can be better than he ever was.

“It’s fun,” 39-year-old Paul tells Castle by their side-by-side cabinets inside the Frost Bank Center, “because you now throw the passports that I usually throw. And I’m not used to catching them. “

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The 20-year-old castle grabs and laughs and understands how to take a compliment. He may not say it out loud, but he thinks the same Paul is doing about his potential.

And knowing that spurs do too?

There is no way Castle is moving everywhere this week.

Look, no one accuses Sacramento of asking. It’s no secret that the kings are listening to offers for guard de’aaron Fox, and it’s no secret that Fox wants to come to San Antonio and it’s no secret that the kings are not eager to give him away without acquire at least one clear-made star caliber player in return.

With Victor Wembanyama obviously out of bounds, Castle-6-Foot-Foot-6 Tovejs Dynamo from Connecticut, who was No. 4 overall last June’s NBA draft-as Spurs’ most attractive paragraph.

But he is not a parlor. He is an integral part of San Antonio’s future.

And if anyone suggests Castle should be included in any deal for Fox?

They must remember that Spurs are not the desperate team here.

It makes perfect sense that San Antonio is FOX’s favorite destination. Becoming Wembanyama’s pick-and-roll partner has a great appeal, just as lives in the city where his wife grew up. But the chance is that he will not be the last all-star to hold the spurs in similar esteem.

Fox looks like a good fit. And acquisition of him before Thursday’s trading deadline comes with his benefits. Making it would now allow the spurs to sign him for an extension this summer and eliminate the possibility of another team hovering before Fox becomes a free agent in 2026.

But that doesn’t mean the spurs should feel any pressure to get something done this week. The kings are the ones who have to worry about letting an unhappy star player get rid of nothing in return. And they are certainly unable to force spurs to share ways with a hugely talented rookie with shades of Kawhi Leonard and Shea Gilgeous-Alexander in his repertoire.

Will he ever get close to being a top-five player in the league that both Leonard and Gilgeous-Alexander have been? Maybe not. He is still terribly raw, especially as a shooting game, and there are no guarantees that his all-round game is improving enough to be an all-star.

But through 44 games in his rookie season, it’s not hard to see what Paul is doing. Already Castle is an elite defender who is capable of locking down point guards and small forward. Already he has exhibited a rare mix of Burst and Vision at the offensive end of the court. And already he has shown the ability to detach an even more dangerous version of Wembanyama, which he did on a brilliant spectacle in Friday’s 144-118 romp over Milwaukee.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Castle drove hard against the basket from the left wing and beat Taudean Prince to the paint. He continued to go right by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had fallen down to help. But when Castle rose against the basket and bait the two-time league MVP to leave his feet, he whipped the ball back to Wembanyama, which was in perfect position for a violent down-the-lane-dunk.

“This,” says Wembanyama, “is the energy that I am inspired by.”

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And the spurs should not be busy standing out with it. They have done a good job during their reconstruction of adding productive young pieces, and to take the next step they will have to say some painful goodbye at some point. Perhaps it will be with Keldon Johnson, who has been as admirable to a teammate that Spurs have had in the last half decade. Maybe it will be with Devin Vassell or Jeremy Sochan, two previous lottery choices with undeniable talent, but with ceilings under a # 2 option at a championship athlete.

There is just no reason to believe that a goodbye is happening with Castle, who resigns with his athletics and potential, even in the moments when his games look reckless.

“He can go down in the car every now and then,” says Spurs -trainer Mitch Johnson. “I think it’s fair that someone would when you drive so fast and not so experienced.”

They do not intend to remove Castle’s keys. They have no desire to see him driving someone else’s car. And they have no reason to let him get away before he finds out.

In Wembanyama, the draft already gave the new era Spurs a gift from the basketball gods. In Castle, they may have another.

His basketball uncle is sure of that.

“That’s why I’m on him all the time,” says Paul.

No matter how hard Sacramento asks.