UConn’s Stephon Castle to learn from one of the greats after Chris Paul signs with Spurs

Stephon Castle was drafted to be the San Antonio Spurs’ point guard of the future.Now, he’ll have the chance to learn from one of the greatest to ever do it.The Spurs will sign future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul to a one-year, $11 million contract, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Sunday. The Golden State Warriors waived Paul earlier in the day, ahead of the deadline to guarantee a $30 million salary for next season.The 39-year-old Paul will enter his 20th year in the NBA in the fall. He’s a 12-time All-Star, 9-time All-Defensive Team winner, 6-time steals champion, 5-time assists champion, and member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. He also ranks third in league history in assists.In addition to learning from Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, Castle will now have a chance to learn the point guard position from Paul, a lock for Springfield as soon as he’s eligible.Castle expressed his excitement in getting the chance to play for Popovich when he was introduced in San Antonio last week.Stephon Castle welcomed to ‘perfect situation’ in San Antonio as UConn draftees introduced to NBA“Just the thought of playing for Coach Pop, it really doesn’t feel real. Coming from probably the best college basketball coach (Dan Hurley) to now going to a coach like Coach Pop, a legendary coach like that, I feel like it’s the perfect situation,” Castle said. “I feel like this is a position that any basketball player would want to be in, to play for two high-level coaches like that. I’m excited just to be able to play for him and how much I’ll grow.”“I feel like I’m a perfect fit here,” he said. “With the fitting in part with the roster, I would just say with my versatility. We’re the youngest team in the league so we’ll have a lot of young players in the rotation but I feel like I’ll be able to play with any other four (players) on the court just with my on-ball and off-ball ability.”The Spurs had a clear need at point guard after drafting Victor Wembanyama No. 1 overall in last season’s draft. The generational big man averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, but his teammates sometimes struggled to find him when he had open looks.Castle told NBA teams ahead of the draft that despite playing a more combo role with UConn last season, he saw himself as a point guard at the next level. He didn’t work out with teams that already had a starting point guard in place.Already known as a lock-down defender, Castle envisions the Spurs’ defense being a force in the near future.“What I would say excites me the most is with our defense, me being able to be the point-of-attack defender and having a great shot-blocker like Wemby behind me to change shots, impact shots. I think it’ll impact the league very quickly and at a high rate.”

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