Draymond Green Calls Out Spurs' Stephon Castle Before NBA Finals Game 2

Stephon Castle is the best perimeter defender on the San Antonio Spurs‘ roster.

Throughout the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs’ second-year guard drew the assignment as the primary defender for reigning back-to-back league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Now in the NBA Finals, Castle is guarding New York Knicks superstar point guard Jalen Brunson.

Brunson finished the Knicks’ Game 1 victory over the Spurs with a game-high 30 points, shooting 12/31 from the field. 13 of his points came in the fourth quarter as New York closed out the game on an 11-0 run.

According to Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green, Castle switched off Brunson too many times during the Spurs’ series-opening loss.

“I was disappointed that Stephon Castle wasn’t guarding Jalen Brunson more. There was a lot of switching,” Green said on the most recent episode of his podcast.

"To watch a guy guard the MVP of the NBA, back-to-back MVP of the NBA as good as we've seen anyone guard him for seven straight games. And then you come out and you're playing against Jalen Brunson and you're not glued to that guy. That was a bit disappointing to me,” Green added.

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Despite Brunson’s 30-point outing, Castle said he wasn’t disappointed with the defensive effort they put forth on the Knicks point guard.

“I thought we did well,” Castle said postgame. “He made some tough shots late. I feel like a lot of his buckets were loud because they were back-to-back. It hurt a little bit more. We did a pretty good job on him.”

More Basketball:Former NBA All-Star Says Jalen Brunson ‘Reminds Me of Myself'

Game 2 will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 4:15 PM.