Anthony Edwards vs Stephon Castle

Recorded games: 2026-01-11 to 2026-05-15

This ledger covers 8 tracked meetings, starting with SAS at MIN on 2026-01-11 and ending with SAS at MIN on 2026-05-15. It includes only per-game assignments with at least two partial matchup possessions; meetings or brief assignments absent from the feed are not treated as zero.

Competition context

Regular Season: 2 meetings, 39.8 partial possessions, 12 points and 11 shots; 0.30 points per partial possession.

Playoffs: 6 meetings, 93.4 partial possessions, 40 points and 28 shots; 0.43 points per partial possession.

The pooled figure combines different competition settings. Compare the phase rates before using the overall number: repeated playoff assignments can dominate a season-long pairing.

Does one game drive the result?

The largest assignment was SAS at MIN on 2026-05-08: 30.7 partial possessions, 15 points and 6/8 shooting. It supplies 23.0% of this pairing’s recorded exposure and 20.5% of its shots.

Removing that game leaves 7 meetings and 102.5 partial possessions. The scoring rate changes from 0.39 to 0.36, against the same complete season baseline of 0.40.

Both versions remain within 10% of baseline. The direction survives this one-game removal, but that does not establish a defensive effect or statistical significance. The 10% band is an editorial description, not a confidence interval or a prediction.

Baseline and film-review plan

Anthony Edwards’s full 2025–26 tracked baseline contains 5,080.3 partial matchup possessions, 2032 points and 779/1627 field goals against all recorded defenders. It includes this pairing. The baseline uses the same two-possession per-game floor and combines the same competition types; it is not a team offensive rating.

The pairing accounts for 2.6% of that tracked exposure. Its shooting rate is 53.8% versus 47.9% in the baseline. Shooting and scoring move in different directions here. Review shot mix, free throws and the tracking denominator before treating either figure as a single explanation.

1. Review the largest assignment above. Tag the first action, initial defender, help, shot location and result separately.
2. Compare with the smallest recorded assignment: MIN at SAS on 2026-05-12, 6.6 partial possessions and 7 points. Check whether the same action appears before calling it a repeatable tendency.
3. Write one coverage question to verify in another game. The tracking table cannot identify a scheme, isolate switches, or show unrecorded meetings.

Sources and publication checks

NBA player-matchup tracking, distributed in the SportsDataverse matchup release; dates, teams and final scores from its NBA calendar release. Individual game links identify the source event; they do not promise free video. HoopBrief calculates the totals, exposure shares and one-game removal above.

This report does not yet pass the publication gate: 6 recorded games, 150 partial possessions, 25 shots, complete dated game context, a usable complete scorer baseline, and exact reconciliation of game totals with the summary. Passing the gate makes a report auditable, not causal. These historical figures are not 2026–27 statistics. Open Matchup Lab and choose a season for current coverage.