The San Antonio Spurs might be looking at back-to-back rookie of the year award winners.
After Victor Wembanyama got all the first-place votes last year, Spurs guard Stephon Castle is one of three finalists for the rookie award this season. The winner will be announced Tuesday shortly after 7 p.m. EDT on TNT.
The other finalists are Zaccharie Risacher of Atlanta — the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft — and Jaylen Wells of Memphis.
If Castle wins, it would mark the second time in more than a half-century that one franchise went back-to-back with the top-rookie honor. Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins (now of Miami) and Karl-Anthony Towns (now of New York) were voted rookies of the year in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The last instance of a team going back-to-back before that: 1973 and 1974, when Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio pulled it off for the Buffalo Braves.
Castle led all rookies this season in points (1,190) and steals (74). Risacher finished strong, winning Eastern Conference rookie of the month for both February and March. Wells led all rookies in games started (74) and 3-pointers made (138, matching the total posted by Washington’s Bub Carrington).
Should Risacher — who hails from France, like Wembanyama — win, it would mark the first time international players won the award in consecutive years since Australia’s Ben Simmons and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic in 2018 and 2019.
Wells is bidding to be Memphis’ first rookie of the year since Ja Morant in 2020.
The rookie of the year award was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly after the end of the regular season.
The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Cleveland’s Evan Mobley winning defensive player of the year, New York’s Jalen Brunson winning clutch player of the year, and Boston’s Payton Pritchard winning sixth man of the year.
On Wednesday, the most improved player — Cade Cunningham of Detroit, Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers — will be announced, also at 7 p.m. EDT on TNT.
Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award and Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
