Stephon Castle may have led his team’s scoring effort in a Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he also led in a disappointing stat that nobody wants any part of.
The young San Antonio Spurs star scored 25 points on his 10-of-17 shooting, to go with eight assists, five rebounds, and one steal. He even had the highlight dunk of the Western Conference Finals so far, posterizing opponents after a ferocious drive into the lane.
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He also illustrated the growing pains of an inexperienced team, as the Thunder upped their defensive intensity to rattle their opponents, leading to an extraordinary number of turnovers.
San Antonio had 21 of them in Wednesday night’s 122-113 loss to the defending champions. Castle had a team-high nine of those turnovers, but it gets worse as he’s on the wrong side of history.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA – MAY 20: Stephon Castle #5 of the San Antonio Spurs works against Alex Caruso #9 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the third quarter in Game Two of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center on May 20, 2026, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
In these two games of the Western Conference Finals, Castle has a combined 19 turnovers, the most for a player in any two-game stretch in the NBA Playoffs. That’s not the sort of record any player wants to own, even with the scoring highs, posterizations, and wins.
“Nba record for a playoff series is 45 by John Wall i think Castle will smash this record,” one X commenter said.
“I don’t get why he’s so nonchalant so much of the time,” a commenter said, adding, “Bro, wake TF up and handle the ball.”
“19 turnovers in 2 games? Stephon Castle out there donating possessions like it’s charity,” someone wrote.
“lmao 19 turnovers in 2 games and y’all still calling him the future?? Spurs really out here drafting busts with the #1 pick again,” another commenter said regarding Castle.
The Spurs’ wins may not keep coming if those sorts of messy performances keep up. However, what bodes well for Castle could be the return of his backcourt teammate, D’Aaron Fox, who was out for the first two games of this series with an injury.
Fox is typically the main facilitator for this San Antonio Spurs team, and Castle, a shooting guard, is unaccustomed to the ball-handling role, even though he performed it somewhat during his one season at UConn.
He’s also in his second season and in his first significant playoff appearance of his career, with a lot of pressure to perform against the defending champs. Castle can improve on those early-career mistakes as his experience grows.
And despite the turnover issue, which he and teammates can clean up, this team heads back to San Antonio with a 1-1 series.
The Spurs return to their homecourt for Game 3, which tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
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