Tina Charles Retires from WNBA, Castle Stays Hot from Three in Spurs Game 1 Loss

Editor’s Note: Hello Husky Nation, you might already be aware, but my original Huskies in the Pros X account was recently hacked. I have created a new one and it is the same username and avatar as the last one. I will continue to regularly post and get back to what I love doing… covering our favorite former Huskies!

Here is a link to my new page. Thanks!

Tina Charles

Three days before the start of the 2026 WNBA regular season, Tina Charles officially announced her retirement from the WNBA per her X page.

In her 15-year illustrious basketball career, Charles leaves the WNBA as the number one all-time leading rebounder (4,262) and the number two all-time scoring leader (8,396), only trailing Diana Taurasi’s 10,646 career points.

The 2010 number overall pick was named the 2012 MVP and an eight-time All-Star. She played for six different WNBA teams throughout her career, including the Connecticut Sun, who drafted her, as well as the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, Seattle Storm, and Atlanta Dream. Charles finished her career last season with the Connecticut Sun.

In her 2012 MVP season, she averaged 18 points and 10.5 rebounds per game for the Connecticut Sun. She recorded a career-high 21.6 points per game in 2016 with the New York Liberty.

Charles played alongside 16 former Huskies in the WNBA, including three of her own 2009 and/or 2010 National Championship teammates, Kalana Green, Kelly Faris and Rennee Montgomery from 2010-2013 with the Connecticut Sun. Both of Charles’ national championship runs featured back-to-back undefeated seasons while defeating Louisville in the 2009 title game, 76-54 and taking down Stanford in 2010 final, 53-47.

The 2x WNBA scoring champion finished her career averaging 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.

Throughout her international career, she was a two-time Turkish Cup winner in 2012 and 2015, 2014 Polish National League Champion, 2015 and 2025 Turkish Presidential Cup Champion  2024 FIBA Europe SuperCup Women Champion and a 2025 Turkish Super League Champion. Charles was also a part of three United States Olympic gold medal teams (2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo).

Stephon Castle

Stephon Castle scored 17 points on just eight shots, however the second-year guard fouled out with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter as the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs dropped the opening game of the Western Conference Semifinals to the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, 104–102, in San Antonio on Monday night.

Castle connected on a pair of three pointers in the first quarter. The first one over a late contest from Julius Randle.

A little less than three minutes later, Steph cashed in his second triple to give him seven quick points and a Spurs 17-10 lead.

Castle’s first minutes in the second quarter came with the Spurs trailing by six, 29-23 and he immediately sparked a 12-0 run with a dunk to cut the lead to four and picked up in an assist on a Devin Vassell three-pointer to give the Spurs a 32-29 lead with 7:54 remaining in the second quarter.

The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year scored his first two points of the second half on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 59 with just under five minutes left to play in the third quarter. However, 90 seconds later he picked up his fourth foul and immediately went to the bench.

Castle’s first basket in the 4th quarter was a big one, a wide open top of the key three-pointer to give the Spurs the lead, 82-81 with 8:42 remaining. (Editors note: The score in my tweet is incorrect)

16 seconds later, Victor Wembanyama recorded his NBA playoff record 11th block (he finished the game with 12) which started a 2-on-1 fastbreak led by Castle who dished it off to De’Aaron Fox for the easy layup to give the Spurs an 84-81 lead.

However, with 5:57 to play, Castle recorded his fifth foul and was taken out of the game. He returned to the floor with 3:29 left and the Spurs trailing 97-91. But nine seconds later he picked up his sixth and final foul after switching on a screen to guard a driving Terrence Shannon Jr.

The Spurs trailed by as many as nine points in the final five minutes, but they did cut the deficit to just two and had a chance to win at the buzzer but Julian Champagnie missed on a wide open three-pointer right before the final horn.

Castle finished the game with 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three and 6-of-8 from the free throw line along with five rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers in 28 minutes. It is the second straight game the former Husky guard has fouled.

Game 2 is set for Wednesday night back in San Antonio at 9:30pm ET on ESPN.

Andre Drummond

The scorching red-hot New York Knicks came the train rolling in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, blowing out the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd on Monday night.

Drummond, who was playing in his first career second round playoff matchup, did not score in just nine minutes of action.

Ever since Joel Embiid returned to the starting lineup in Game 4 of the 76ers first-round Eastern Conference series against the Boston Celtics following an appendectomy, Drummond has played just 42 total minutes (8.4 minutes per game) over the team’s last five contests. He has reached double-digit minutes in only one of those games.

Drummond and the 76ers will look to even the series when Game 2 tipoffs on Wednesday at 7:00pm ET on ESPN.

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