Paige Bueckers Hugs Emotional Stephon Castle After Spurs Reach NBA Finals

Stephon Castle and the UConn Huskies won the men’s NCAA national title in 2024, and the San Antonio Spurs selected him fourth overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies won the women’s NCAA national title in 2025, and the Dallas Wings selected her first overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

They both won their respective league’s Rookie of the Year award in 2025.

The Spurs beat the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in Oklahoma City on Saturday night, sending the league’s newest young star trio of Castle, Victor Wembanyama, and Dylan Harper to the 2026 NBA Finals.

Bueckers was in the building to support Castle. Once it was all over, Bueckers went down to the court to hug and hype up her fellow Huskie.

Bueckers reposted the video to her Instagram Story, writing, “Proud of you 5 [black heart emoji].”

If we go off of Bueckers and Castle’s pattern at UConn, Bueckers and the Wings will at least reach the 2027 WNBA Finals. But based on how the Wings (5-3) look so far this season, it could very well be a championship double-dip in Texas this year.

That assumes the Spurs beat the New York Knicks to hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in the 2026 NBA Finals, which is far from guaranteed.

The Knicks haven’t lost since April 23 and are riding an 11-game winning streak into Game 1. They swept the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday. Before now, the Knicks hadn’t appeared in the Finals since losing the 1999 NBA Finals to the Spurs.

But we don’t have to go back to 1999 for the last high-stakes clash between the Knicks and Spurs. The Knicks defeated the Spurs to win the NBA Cup in December. Now, the Knicks will have to go through the Spurs in the Finals to capture their first NBA championship since 1973.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 6:25 PM.