WATCH: No. 4 pick Stephon Castle pays respect to UConn HC Dan Hurley
Former UConn guard Stephon Castle, selected 4th overall in the 2024 NBA draft on Wednesday, will head to the San Antonio Spurs. Right after his selection, Castle was seen hugging his family and headed over to the other tale to greet fellow Husky Donovan Clingan.
Before making his way to the stage, Stephon Castle also hugged his former coach, Dan Hurley. Here's the video (at 1:00):
Castle also gave his coach his respects in the post-draft interview with the media as he said:
"I was just playing for the best coach in college basketball. So now I'm going to flip to the NBA and playing for a legendary coach like Coach Pop. I mean, it's definitely a blessing."
In his lone freshman season with the UConn Huskies, Stephon Castle averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists, shooting 47.2% from the floor.
He didn't fare well on the 3-point shooting (26.7%), which is something he needs to work on as he learns to play alongside Victor Wembanyama under coach Gregg Popovich.
Dan Hurley believes the Spurs are the perfect fit for Stephon Castle
Right after his selection, Stephon Castle spoke with ESPN analyst Monica McNuttm and Dan Hurley also joined in for the interview. When asked for his thoughts on the selection, Hurley said:
“This guy, when you look at fit right there, the Spurs value winning, they value workers, they value championships and this is just the perfect player for them to draft for what they do in that organization. This guy’s just scratching the surface (of his potential).”
In the post-draft analysis on Yahoo! Sports, NBA draft analyst, Krysten Peek, whose favorite player was Stephona Castle, explained:
"He was one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball as a freshman. And then you look at his upside and his potential as a scorer, he showed in the Final Four. I think he helped himself the most in the Final Four games.
"But when I think about Stepon Castle and who he reminds me of, it has to be RJ Barrett. Kind of like that, the shooting isn't there yet, but the perimeter defense and the, and the defense in the backcourt is. And I think he has the upside to be 'THE' guy in this draft and a superstar; not a franchise-changing player, but a starter for the San Antonio Spurs."
Stephon Castle's former UConn teammate, Donovan Clingan, was selected seventh overall by the Portland Trail Blazers.
With that, the Huskies became the only school to have all top-15 picks in the NBA and WNBA drafts this year after Aaliyah Edwards was selected as No. 3 and Nika Muhl was picked No. 14.