The San Antonio Spurs are setting courts ablaze this year, as the NBA officially announced that not one but three of their players have been selected to participate in the 2026 Castrol Rising Stars Game during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. According to KSAT, the second-year guard Stephon Castle and rookie sensation Dylan Harper will be joined by G League breakout David Jones Garcia. This marks a notable fifth occasion for the Spurs franchise to place more than one player in the Rising Stars event within the same season.
Castle, making his sophomore appearance after taking home Rising Stars MVP honors last year, has continued to quickly embed himself as a pivotal piece in San Antonio's basketball puzzle. He's averaging career highs across the board with 16.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 5 rebounds over 36 games, KENS 5 reports. Meanwhile, Harper has notably managed to accumulate averages of 10.2 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in 35 appearances, distinguishing himself as one of five rookies to hit those marks and the sole one to do so coming off the bench.
Not to be overlooked is two-way guard David Jones Garcia's stellar performance in the G League. As of January 25, he's led the Austin Spurs to victory with an impressive 26.8 points on average per game, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed, as he was chosen as one of only seven G League talents to compete in the Rising Stars game, per information from KSAT. Jones Garcia joins an elite squad alongside Spurs’ own Harper, other NBA rookies and sophomores, and including his teammate’s brother, Ron Harper Jr.
In a shift from past team structures, rookies will no longer exclusively play with rookies, nor will sophomores only join ranks with sophomores. Instead, a fresh drafting approach will be to hastily mix players into three Rising Stars teams today, with a fourth team composed entirely of G-League players like Jones Garcia. These squads will then go head-to-head in a tournament-style competition on Feb. 13 during All-Star weekend, detailed by KENS 5. With the Spurs' representation in this year's Rising Stars, it augurs well for the franchise's burgeoning talent and a promising future spotlight during one of the most entertaining weekends in the NBA calendar.
