Stephon Castle admits that teams are trying to "punk" the San Antonio Spurs physically

The San Antonio Spurs have been excellent in the 2025-26 season. They are a team filled with young players and a relatively young head coach. There are a few veterans on the roster, like De'Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes, but the majority of the team is young.

They are spearheaded by young players such as Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle. Since they are a young team, the consensus is that their opponents tend to play more of a physical brand of basketball against them.

Stephon Castle knows the Spurs play against physical teams quite regularly

The Spurs are the second-best team in the Western Conference, which is a big shift from what they were a year before. They were outside the postseason spots in the 2024-25 season, but Wembanyama's superstar rise alongside his teammates' improvements have helped the Spurs stand out.

With their success, the Spurs have huge targets on their backs. Moving forward, they have to play against some of the most difficult matchups because they are planning to play physical basketball against Wembanyama and the rest of the Spurs' young core.

MORE: Victor Wembanyama admits that physicality is a problem for him at the moment

Despite teams being more strategic with their physicality, the Spurs are not backing down. Castle, in particular, has called out other teams for having that kind of approach. It is not the best tactic to have against the Spurs because head coach Mitch Johnson has prepared his players.

"Teams can't really beat us going up and down just with skill, so they try to punk us, they try to be overly physical with us. I feel like we have a lot of guys that can step up to that challenge, so once we've answered that call, teams don't really have an answer," Castle said about how teams match up against the Spurs.

The Spurs are more comfortable with how they play against teams nowadays. That is a good sign for the long-term future because they are ready to keep fighting and proving themselves as one of the teams that deserve to be respected more. 

Playing more physical basketball is normal, but the Spurs have been honest with improving on it. Now, they will be harder matchup because they have toughened up further.

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