Dylan Harper (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper has a bright future ahead of him.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft had a sensational rookie season, helping lead the Spurs to the NBA Finals. He finished the series as San Antonio’s second-leading scorer after scoring a team-high 25 points in Game 5 and contributing 21 points in Game 4. He finished the series averaging 18.0 points per game despite the fact that all of his appearances came off the bench.
The Spurs lost in five games to the New York Knicks, but they outplayed their Eastern Conference brethren, leading for 74% of the series. Harper addressed a number of topics in our sitdown interview, including what the Spurs need to do to finish the job, his objectives for his second season, and his upcoming event with Topps Chrome Basketball on Friday, July 31.
Interview with Dylan Harper
Q: I want to talk to you about your dad, Ron. Obviously, a heck of a player. I remember him in the ’90s. What is the biggest thing you learned from your dad? What’s the best advice he ever gave to you?
Harper: I feel like the biggest or the best advice he ever gave me is just kind of work hard. Don’t really compare yourself to others, and at the end of the day, just be you. Things will take care of yourself for themselves.
Q: When you were growing up, obviously you want to be yourself, and your dad gave you that advice? But are there certain areas of your game that you mimicked from your dad, or did you look up to other players?
Harper: I feel like I had a lot of people look up to my family, my whole family. But really, I would say just the IQ-that’s the biggest thing I kind of took away from him: the IQ and just overall, just his flow and feel for the game.
Q: Do you talk to him a lot during the season? Obviously, you just completed your rookie year with the Spurs. Do you guys text, do you talk a lot on the phone? Do you get advice from your dad a lot?
Harper: We talk here and there. I feel like during the year, he understands how long the season is, so he kind of allows me to just figure it out on my own because he knows that’s the only way that I’ll kind of learn and get through it. He gives me things here and there, but not really consistently.
Q: Something that impressed me, obviously, the NBA Finals performance. You had a heck of a Game 1, Game 5. You scored a team-leading 25 points. Talk about that experience. Did you have any nerves?
Harper: I mean, I feel like it’s in any game, I feel like I had the same amount of nerves. But playing in the NBA Finals is this kind of dream come true. Obviously, you want the outcome to be a lot different, but I mean, to make it there that far, it definitely taught not just me, but I think just taught everyone in our group a lot and what we need to do.
Q: What was the biggest thing that you learned from that experience? Obviously, you guys led for a great duration of that series. You came up a little short, but what can you take from that series moving forward?
Harper: I think the biggest thing is probably closing out games, and I think just knowing exactly what we’re gonna do in certain times, I think the biggest thing for us is we got a year under our belt. I think this year for us, the first year we’re all together as a team, and I feel like the sky’s the limit for us.
Q: Yeah obviously you guys are only gonna keep getting better. You guys are so young. Your rookie season — you had a good rookie year. What was the biggest thing that you learned? Were there any obstacles that you can think of?
Harper: I mean, there’s definitely obstacles in every year. But I feel like this year, I feel like the biggest thing for me was just staying consistent. I think I tried to do that all 82 games, regardless of who we played, regardless of what the circumstances were. Just staying consistent at all times.
Q: Do you feel like that by the time the playoffs rolled around, you guys got to the NBA Finals, you could feel yourself a lot more comfortable than maybe at the beginning of the year?
Harper: Yeah, definitely. I feel like I was a lot more comfortable with my team, kind of the roles everyone was in, where people were going to be at, and I think just the overall landscape of the game, the flight stuff like that. I feel like I kind of settled down.
Q: Your second season’s coming up here. There are high expectations. Do you have any concrete objectives in your mind? Whether that’s statistical, whether that’s on the court as far as where you want to improve?
Harper: Nah, man. I feel like the biggest thing for me in every year is really just getting better every day, learning from the people around me and learning from my own experiences and just trying not to make the same mistakes over and over again. But for me, it’s not really just anything personal. I feel like we all have that one team goal that we felt like that we should have had last year. I feel like that’s really the only thing on that. That’s the only thing that’s on everyone’s mind.
Q: So simply put, it’s team-based over any sort of individual objectives. That’s what’s on your mind.
Harper: Yes, sir.
Q: And it doesn’t matter to you, you were coming off the bench your first season, your rookie season. It doesn’t matter to you whether you’re a starter or whether you’re a bench player, right?
Harper: No, I feel like regardless, I’m in the NBA. There’s only like 450 people in the NBA, and I get a chance to go on the court and play with the best of the best. I feel like those kinds of things and those logistics at the end of the day, in the big scheme of things, it’s not going to affect me and how I approach every day.
Q: I want to talk to you about Wemby. Obviously, a heck of a player, man. It shows how much he cares about the team that he took less money than the max on his extension. Talk about what that means, and talk about what type of player and leader he is behind the scenes — maybe that fans don’t know about.
Harper: I feel like for a 22-year-old, he’s probably one of the best leaders I’ve been around, just the way he carries himself, his maturity, from top to bottom, whether it’s basketball treatment, in the weight room, personal life. I feel like he’s kind of structured his life in a way that has worked for him, and I think he’s the most genuine person ever. When that came out, I feel like yes, it was a surprise to everyone. But I mean, that’s just the type of person he is.
Q: What are you up to with Topps Chrome and eBay this weekend?
Harper: I’m joining eBay Live on Friday, July 31st, with Blez, and basically we’re gonna be on the search to go find one of my rookie cards, and especially a Chrome Topps card. We’re gonna be on a hunt with that. We’re gonna do that. Plus, we’re gonna interact with the fans too, and allow them to try and get some.
Q: You said you’re on the hunt for one of your rookie cards. Is this the first time you’ve been partnered with Upper Deck? And were you a big sports memorabilia guy growing up?
Harper: It’s definitely my first time doing something like this. I’ve done it here and there in college, but I think as a professional, definitely yeah. I think the memorabilia stuff started honestly like when I used to walk downstairs and my dad had this Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson jersey signed. Just seeing things like that, I’ve always been interested in things of this nature.
Q: Have you met MJ while growing up? Because I know your dad teamed up with him and then Upper Deck is obviously doing this whole authentic Michael Jordan’s collectibles thing.
Harper: I met him once at Barclays Center when I was young. But yeah, I mean me and him, my dad played in Chicago, where it’s gonna be hosted. I feel like this whole event is gonna kind of have that nostalgia, nostalgic feeling to it, and everyone there is in that kind of place.
Q: Detail a little bit more about this stream that you mentioned earlier on.
Harper: I think the biggest part of the stream for me is just connecting with the fans and the community, and I think eBay Live brings all that together. It brings me and Blaz and just fans that want to kind of meet me and we get to interact and we just go and try to find cards. I think the biggest thing is having a good time and interacting with everyone.
Q: Is there anything else that you want to get out there?
Harper: The biggest thing is that I feel like I’m gonna pull my Topps Chrome card. I think I think I’m gonna pull it there live. I think what eBay Live does, it brings the athletes together. It brings people like Blez and people in that community that have that type of knowledge and that understand the cards and things like that. It brings the community together. I feel like on July 31, it’s gonna be a great event.
Spurs’ Title Odds
The Spurs currently have the second-best NBA title odds at FanDuel, sitting at +270, just behind the OKC Thunder, who are priced at +230, and the top favorite at most basketball betting sites. With Harper, Wemby, and many young pieces around them, this team should be a contender for years to come.