The San Antonio Spurs' biggest rival is the Houston Rockets, and Stephon Castle recently "little brothered" them when asked about the 2024 NBA Draft.
After the Houston Rockets made the NBA playoffs last season, some Houstonians were overly eager to claim that their team is better than the San Antonio Spurs.
Yeah, right.
Sure, the Rockets were the second seed in the West last season, but they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the first round. This season, the Rockets once again made the playoffs, this time as the fifth seed, and lost in the opening round to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs, meanwhile, snapped their playoff drought and are currently battling in the NBA Finals. ON top of that, the Spurs have five titles to the Rockets' two.
It's pretty clear who has the better NBA franchise, and some Spurs players haven't hidden their disdain for their in-state rival.
Stephon Castle Calls Out Rockets
As fans look back on the 2024 NBA Draft, one thing stands out: it was not a very talented rookie class. The Spurs nabbed Stephon Castle fourth overall, and it's incredibly obvious that he would be the first pick if teams could get a do-over.
Instead, Zaccharie Risacher, Alexandre Sarr, and Reed Sheppard went off the board before Castle did. As it turns out, that was partly by design, as Castle did whatever he could to make sure he ended up in San Antonio over Atlanta, Washington, or Houston.
"Being able to pair with Victor was definitely a plus in my eyes," Castle told Sam Amick. "I just thought it would have been a perfect fit, and I feel like it was.
“I think being here was always number one on my list. Internally, I always felt like I was the best player in that draft. 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.”
In his second season, Castle was a borderline All-Star and All-Defensive selection. Sheppard, meanwhile, came sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
Sheppard isn't the first Spurs player to call out the Rockets like that. During the 2023 Draft Lottery, Wembanyama seemed visibly happy that the Rockets landed the fourth pick, thus missing out on him.
And last season, while he was still on the Spurs, Jeremy Sochan got tangled up with Amen Thompson, then Jabari Smith Jr., and then Dillon Brooks. When asked about the Rockets after those testy games, he had a pretty simple answer.
"F*** Houston!"
Most Spurs fans would probbaly agree.
