Former men’s basketball standout center Rafael Castro signed a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday.
Castro, who was not selected in the 2026 NBA Draft, signed a deal that allows him to play for both Milwaukee and their G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, for the upcoming season. The deal makes Castro — the two-year Revolutionary who had cemented himself as a top national player when he was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team and the A-10 All-Defensive Team in 2024-25 and 2025-26 — the 15th player in men’s basketball program history to play in the NBA.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
In his two seasons with the Revolutionaries, Castro helped to turn the program around with his on-court dominance. In 63 games across those two seasons, he averaged 14.7 points per game, 9.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He led the team in scoring both seasons and finished eighth in the conference last season in points per game.
In May, after a strong showing at the Amazon Web Services NBA G League Combine, Castro earned a spot in the AWS NBA Draft Combine as one of five players from the G League version to be promoted.
The 6’11” center’s rise to stardom coincided with the Revs’ best record in 10 seasons, as he was a key contributor to the 21-win 2024-25 squad. In his redshirt junior and redshirt senior seasons, the Revs won 19 or more games, won an A-10 Championship game and participated in two postseason tournaments.
Last season, he scored in double figures 24 times and notched nine double-doubles. His season high in points, 27, came in the first game of A-10 play against Richmond. He also led the team in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game while shooting an efficient 62.7% from the field.
Toronto Raptors forward Jamison Battle, who spent two seasons at GW from 2019-21, is the only active Rev in the NBA. Former men’s basketball forward Yuta Watanabe signed a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018. He then signed a standard contract with the Raptors in 2021, becoming the first Rev to ink a fully guaranteed NBA contract since former forward Tyler Cavanaugh signed a multiyear deal with the Atlanta Hawks in 2017.
Castro is set to participate in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which runs from July 9-19, per a GW press release.
