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Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle & Dylan Harper listed as early frontrunners for major NBA awards originally appeared on The Sporting News .
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Dynasties don't just appear out of nowhere in the NBA. They are built over years of front-office hiring, coaching staff revamps, offseason acquisitions, strong drafting, and player development. This is exactly what the San Antonio Spurs did. For the 2026-27 NBA season, every member of their organization will be awarded. ESPN projects Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and even Coach Mitch Johnson as frontrunners for major awards.
From Coach Johnson to Wembanyama: a lot of Spurs are NBA award frontrunners
Castle & the NBA MIP
ESPN just unveiled its Summer Forecast, and a lot of Spurs are expected to take home hardware in major NBA awards. Let's break them down, starting with Stephon Castle. Projections posit that the incoming third-year player will become the frontrunner for the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year award.
1. Stephon Castle 34 points 2. Cason Wallace 32 points 3. Dylan Harper 21 points 4 . Amen Thompson 20 points 5. Kel'el Ware 17 points Notably, Castle isn't the only Spurs player vying for the NBA MIP award, as ESPN also projects Dylan Harper to take home the hardware. However, this seems like Castle's award because Harper has better odds of winning another award, which we'll discuss later.
Area 51 dimes 👽🛸 For NBA Assist Week, take a look back at some of the exciting highlight-reel passes Stephon Castle & Wemby threw each other last season! (via @spurs ) pic.twitter.com/CyHQmJAu6L
— NBA (@NBA) August 26, 2026 When looking at his 2026-27 NBA season Per 36 Minutes projections, Castle does look like a strong frontrunner in terms of taking a leap. Whether he becomes a secondary All-Star to help Wembanyama get a complementary two-way shot creator is still a question, but the numbers are irrefutably huge.
Castle's 2026-27 Per 36 Minutes Projections PTS FG% 3P% FGA AST TRB STL BLK TOV WS/48 20.3 .467 .326 15.0 7.7 6.1 1.4 0.4 3.4 0.096 Of course, the NBA MIP award necessitates that a player has a drastic increase in production on both ends of the floor - one that contributes more to winning than in previous years. If Castle's Per 36 projections hold, he will rack up career-highs in points (previous 16.7 PPG), assists (previous 7.4 APG), rebounds (previous 5.3 RPG), steals (previous 1.1 SPG), and blocks (previous 0.3 BPG). All of these also mean that he will take up more space in the Spurs offense despite increases in production from Harper, Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, and Tobias Harris.
More: Stephon Castle reveals he has been working hard to improve his perimeter shooting
Castle has a bigger edge over Wallace, Thompson, and Ware because the Spurs have given him ample postseason experience to refine his regular season production.
Harper & the NBA 6MOTY
Next, ESPN projects that Dylan Harper is a front-runner for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. The incoming second-year Spurs player is the second-favorite to win the NBA 6MOTY, wedged between Oklahoma City Thunder 's Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell.
1. Alex Caruso 34 points 2 . Dylan Harper 23 points 3. Ajay Mitchell 22 points 4. Reed Sheppard 20 points
Harper will likely make the biggest jump in production among the Spurs players. When his projections are looked at, many will likely proclaim that he is on the trajectory of being an NBA All-Star. If he does end up winning the hardware, there will be questions about whether the Spurs can afford him moving forward. Otherwise, his fate could be split between being Manu Ginobili in the Spurs dynasty for a long time or becoming James Harden, who departs to become a first option.
DYLAN HARPER?!? WOAH 😳 pic.twitter.com/XIxB5Ynaks
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2026 The Spurs do have a plan for the latter, especially after Wembanyama took a $50 million pay cut in his supermax deal.
Harper's 2026-27 Per 36 Minutes Projections PTS FG% 3P% FT% FGA AST TRB BLK STL TOV WS/48 19.2 .518 .360 .772 15.0 6.1 5.7 0.6 1.3 2.2 .120 More: Spurs' Dylan Harper predicted to make James Harden-like leap & win NBA 6MOTY
Caruso is surely a daunting nemesis in the NBA 6MOTY race, but Harper has one edge. He doesn't have to compete with another award frontrunner for bench production if Coach Mitch Johnson runs his rotations right. Ajay Mitchell will also try to grab every chance so he takes home the hardware over everyone else, including his own Thunder teammate. At that point, they will be locked in a zero-sum production battle that could give Harper a chicane such that he overtakes the others.
Wembanyama, the NBA MVP and DPOY
To no one's surprise, Victor Wembanyama is projected to be ESPN's clear favorite in two major awards: the NBA Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. It's not hard to see why he'll likely win NBA DPOY in 2026-27 and beyond. He is literally the most technically skilled and physically imposing player the league has seen. There is even a case that he runs away with the title of 'best defender of all-time' by the middle of his career. So, who's in contention for second place and just how far ahead is the Spurs superstar in terms of projections?
1. Victor Wembanyama 108 points 2 . Giannis Antetokounmpo 20 points 3. Chet Holmgren 13 points T-4. Amen Thompson 12 points T-4. Bam Adebayo 12 points 6. Rudy Gobert 10 points No one comes close to Wembanyama in defensive prowess. But the Spurs superstar does have bigger fish to fry - the Michael Jordan Trophy. How does he fare in those projections? The gap between him and his competitors is very similar; the names in contention just changed.
1. Victor Wembanyama 102 points 2. Nikola Jokic 31 points 3 . Luka Doncic 28 points 4 . Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 26 points 5...
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