Jalen Brunson vs Stephon Castle

Recorded games: 2025-12-16 to 2026-06-13

This ledger covers 8 tracked meetings, starting with SAS at NYK on 2025-12-16 and ending with NYK at SAS on 2026-06-13. 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

NBA Cup: 1 meetings, 27.4 partial possessions, 4 points and 5 shots; 0.15 points per partial possession.

Regular Season: 2 meetings, 29.1 partial possessions, 0 points and 4 shots; 0.00 points per partial possession.

Playoffs: 5 meetings, 103.9 partial possessions, 30 points and 23 shots; 0.29 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 NYK on 2025-12-16: 27.4 partial possessions, 4 points and 1/5 shooting. It supplies 17.1% of this pairing’s recorded exposure and 15.6% of its shots.

Removing that game leaves 7 meetings and 133 partial possessions. The scoring rate changes from 0.21 to 0.23, against the same complete season baseline of 0.37.

Both versions remain below 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

Jalen Brunson’s full 2025–26 tracked baseline contains 6,545.3 partial matchup possessions, 2409 points and 928/1995 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 2.5% of that tracked exposure. Its shooting rate is 34.4% versus 46.5% in the baseline. Read the shooting and scoring figures together, then inspect the possessions that produced them; neither records the coverage call or help responsibility.

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: SAS at NYK on 2026-03-01, 12.7 partial possessions and 0 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 passes 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.