{"id":565687,"date":"2026-01-28T06:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565687\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:18:14","slug":"stephon-castle-endorses-dylan-harper-for-rising-stars-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565687\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephon Castle endorses Dylan Harper for Rising Stars MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicknamed the \u201cSlash Brothers\u201d by some, Stephon Castle<\/a> and Dylan Harper<\/a> will also share the ball during the NBA Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Weekend. And if Castle has his way, that may not be the only honor they share<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might, we’ll see. I might let \u201cDill\u201d have it this time,\u201d the second-year guard said, alluding to Harper when asked if he’s going for a second straight MVP in the event.<\/p>\n

Last season, Castle led his Rising Stars squad into competition on All-Star Sunday under a revised format.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Steph will go and try to hold the title he’s got,\u201d 2026 All-Star starter Victor Wembanyama<\/a> said of his San Antonio Spurs<\/a> teammate. \u201cIt’s going to be a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Told that the reigning Rookie of the Year admitted he might let their rookie teammate win the Most Valuable Player this time around, Wemby reacted<\/a> with subtle humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’d be nice. He did? Okay, that’s nice. That’s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan Harper excited for first All-Star Weekend as player<\/p>\n

It didn’t surprise Harper than he made the Rising Stars game. But, not because of confidence in his game<\/a>. At least not initially.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought every rookie made it. But, it’s obviously a blessing just to be in that position, to be one of the few players, few rookies to make it to the game, just all the hard work I think I put in this season,\u201d Harper continued. \u201cIt’s a testament to me, but it’s a testament us winning, so I think about just going out there and putting my best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of the 2026 Rising Stars Draft, the Spurs sit second in the Western Conference standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy rookie season, I wouldn’t trade it for any other rookie season. The group of players I get to play with, the organization I’m at, and just everything else has been going well,\u201d the second overall pick of this past summer’s draft said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re winning, that also plays a huge part in it and is definitely a plus. But, I think we all take a step back sometimes, whether it’s me, whether it’s Steph, whether it’s David,\u201d Harper added, alluding to David Jones-Garcia, who’s spent a good amount of the season with the Austin Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can all go out to eat together and talk about it,\u201d the former Rutger star continued. \u201cI think the level of gratitude we all have, I think is up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a sentiment with which Castle agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to be fun. I think we’re blessed to get invited, especially at these points in our career. And then, also got a couple other former teammates coming so it should be a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephon Castle still feeling effects of first All-Star Weekend<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my first one, so just trying to be there for the experience. I thought it was cool that I was able to play on all three days,\u201d Castle said of a weekend that helped pave the way for his ROY award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A second straight trip to the February festivities should mark a final appearance for Castle in the Rising Stars Challenge, but not for All-Star Weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it definitely helped me ’cause I feel like whether you’re a basketball fan or not, a lot of people tune into All-Star Weekend.\u201d the fourth overall pick of 2024 said of a rise in the notoriety of his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, I feel like my popularity probably went up a little bit after participating in those events,\u201d the former UConn star concluded.<\/p>\n

Castle and Harper will both play for Team Melo in competing against three other squads<\/a> made up of \u2018freshmen,’ \u2018sophomores,’ and G-League stars in a tournament-style event on February 13 in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicknamed the \u201cSlash Brothers\u201d by some, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper will also share the ball during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,226,6,2144,969,474,4075,4074,534,930],"class_list":{"0":"post-565687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dylan-harper","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-reporting","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","14":"tag-sanantonio","15":"tag-sanantoniospurs","16":"tag-spurs","17":"tag-stephon-castle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115971273765296945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}