Report: Rockets coach Ime Udoka was a huge pre-draft fan of Stephon Castle

Two years after being drafted at No. 4 overall in the 2024 first round, second-year guard Stephon Castle is playing a key role in the 2026 NBA Finals for the San Antonio Spurs.

The team picking one slot earlier (at No. 3) was the Rockets, who had and have a defensive minded head coach in Ime Udoka. Yet, Houston opted for Reed Sheppard, whose profile — relative to Castle — is much more tilted to offense and long-range shooting.

With that in mind, many observers have long wondered why the Udoka-era Rockets went in that direction. On Wednesday, a story from The Athletic’s Sam Amick offers more background.

Per league sources, Rockets coach and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka was a huge fan of Castle’s (which Castle said he was well aware of). But with veteran Fred VanVleet manning the point guard position and young Jalen Green at the two-guard spot, Castle and his camp sent the kinds of signals Houston’s way that eventually led to him landing in San Antonio. Just as he’d hoped.

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“I think being (in San Antonio) was always number one on my list,” said Castle, who won Rookie of the Year in 2025. “Internally, I always felt like I was the best player in that draft. (But) I didn’t know what could happen. My agent always told me, like, anything can happen in a draft. Like, you could not work out for a team, not have talked to a team, and they can still take you. So, I mean, I wasn’t really planning on playing in Houston. I didn’t really know how any of that worked. I was kind of hoping I could slide my way to San Antonio. It kind of worked out for me.”

Per league sources, Rockets coach and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka was a huge fan of Castle’s (which Castle said he was well aware of). But with veteran Fred VanVleet manning the point guard position and young Jalen Green at the two-guard spot, Castle and his camp sent the kinds of signals Houston’s way that eventually led to him landing in San Antonio. Just as he’d hoped.

“I think being (in San Antonio) was always number one on my list,” said Castle, who won Rookie of the Year in 2025. “Internally, I always felt like I was the best player in that draft. (But) I didn’t know what could happen. My agent always told me, like, anything can happen in a draft. Like, you could not work out for a team, not have talked to a team, and they can still take you. So, I mean, I wasn’t really planning on playing in Houston. I didn’t really know how any of that worked. I was kind of hoping I could slide my way to San Antonio. It kind of worked out for me.”

To this point, Castle has statistically outplayed Sheppard in the NBA, though the sample remains quite small. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Castle stepped into a starting role in San Antonio almost immediately. While the Spurs went 62-20 this season, they were 34-48 a year ago, which allowed San Antonio to take more of a developmental approach.

In Houston, Sheppard played sparingly as a rookie before being used primarily as a sixth man this season. Both teams went 52-30 in the regular season before losing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

With hindsight, Castle’s apparent disdain for Houston based on the presence of VanVleet and Green proved unnecessary. Green was traded to the Phoenix Suns a year later as part of the Kevin Durant blockbuster, and VanVleet missed the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

So, with that knowledge, there’s a world where Castle could have had ample ball-handling and playmaking opportunities with the 2025-26 Rockets. But he didn’t know that in 2024, and apparently that led to Castle wanting to fall to San Antonio in the draft (a decision which aged quite well for him).

And from a Houston perspective, it seems they liked Sheppard enough that they didn’t want to take the risk of bringing in an unhappy Castle — even if their head coach was and is a fan.

Looking ahead, if Sheppard and Amen Thompson develop as intended and become strong on-ball players, the choice to pass on Castle will be understandable. But if one or both underwhelms and Castle turns into a star for a divisional rival, it will certainly be fair to second guess.