The San Antonio Spurs are the talk of the NBA as the talented young squad headlined by French superstar Victor Wembanyama evened up the Western Conference Finals at 2-2 after knocking off the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 103-82 on Sunday.
While Wembanyama has garnered much of the attention as he begins to carve out his legacy as potentially an all-time great, former American high school basketball standouts
De'Aaron Fox,
Dylan Harper and
Stephon Castle have played key roles throughout the series and season.
Harper exploded onto the scene in the Western Conference Finals with 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists in 47 minutes of action in a 122-115 double-overtime victory in the opening game of the series.
In action here during his high school days in Georgia, Stephon Castle increased his averages to 16.7 points, 7.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per contest during a promising sophomore campaign for the Spurs. (PHOTO: Corey Jones)
The former
Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) standout won
MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors during his senior campaign in 2023-24 after averaging 22.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. His efforts helped the Ironmen to the Non-Public A state title and the No. 9 spot in the final MaxPreps Top 25.
After struggling with turnovers through the first two games of the series, Castle has tightened things up with just two in the ensuing pair of games. The versatile guard is averaging 17.3 points, 8.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds per contest through four games against the defending champions.
Fox has provided a steady presence at the point guard position while battling through an ankle injury that kept him out of the first two games of the series. The former
Cypress Lakes (Katy, Texas) star averaged 31.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.8 steals per outing as a senior to earn fifth team
MaxPreps All-America honors in 2015-16.
Harrison Barnes, who played 16 minutes off the bench in game four, is also a former
MaxPreps National Player of the Year. The 33-year old veteran won the award in 2009-10 after guiding
Ames (Iowa) to 53 consecutive wins to close out his career while averaging 26.1 points, 10 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 3.0 assists per game as a senior.
San Antonio has an exceptionally young roster with Wembanyama (22), Harper (20) and Castle (21) likely to be the cornerstones of the projected budding NBA dynasty. Fox (28) brings a veteran presence to the starting lineup while other key young rotational pieces include Johnson (26),
Carter Bryant (20),
Devin Vassell (25) and
Julian Champagnie (24).
