Nik Stauskas, also known as “Sauce Castillo,” shows out for the Grand Rapids Gold in an explosive 57-point game against the Wisconsin Herd.
While the Denver Nuggets are currently slated to make the NBA Playoffs, their G League affiliate is on the brink of contention. The Grand Rapids Gold of Grand Rapids, MI, is 12-9 in the G League’s Eastern Conference, but they scored a big 131-127 win against the Wisconsin Herd on March 1.
There was one player who scored about 44 percent of the points for the Gold, shooting 20/29 baskets and 11/15 3-pointers. It was none other than Nik Stauskas, otherwise known as Sauce Castillo, who saved the night for the Gold in a narrow 4-point victory.
Sauce Castillo shines in NBA G League during a 57-point game
Stauskas earned his nonsensical nickname back in 2015, when the closed captioning on a Kings-76ers game interpreted Stauskas’ name as “Sauce Castillo.” The hilarious auto-transcription error turned into a joke that Stauskas himself didn’t understand at first, but as he later described, “escalated too quickly.”
Sacramento’s 2014 draft pick was then known affectionately as “Sauce Castillo”, even as he went on to play for five more NBA teams. Stauskas most recently played for the Miami Heat, signing a ten-day contract on Dec. 31, 2021. After his short Miami stint, Stauskas returned to play for the Gold, where he signed with after the Denver Nuggets waived him in Oct. 2021.
Sauce Castillo isn’t the only Gold player to be called up to the big leagues during the ten-day contract frenzy from the NBA’s COVID outbreak this past December. The Gold announced that they had reacquired Isaiah Thomas for their Feb. 24 game after Thomas played for the Gold and was briefly signed by the Lakers. Once again, the G League has proven to showcase talent for NBA teams to consider—if only during a brief moment while many players were sidelined with COVID.