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From high school stardom in New Jersey to leading Rutgers as the highest-rated recruit in program history, Dylan Harper\u2019s transition to the NBA hardwood looked effortless. Selected No. 2 overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2025 NBA Draft, the rookie guard immediately carved out an indispensable role.<\/p>\n
Harper earned NBA All-Rookie First Team honors after averaging 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds across 69 regular-season games. His steady play and backcourt versatility catalyzed a massive turnaround for San Antonio, helping lead the Spurs to a 62-20 record and an electrifying run all the way to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Reaching the championship stage in year one is a rare milestone, placing Harper in select company early in his professional career. <\/p>\n
In this exclusive conversation with ScoopB.com, Harper breaks down his inaugural Finals run, clears the air on media narratives surrounding his backcourt dynamic with De\u2019Aaron Fox and shares the personal wisdom he receives from legendary head coach Gregg Popovich and rising coach Mitch Johnson.<\/p>\n
Harper also opened up about his rookie campaign, growth in San Antonio and what lies ahead.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: What\u2019s your summer been like?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: A lot of rest, a lot of film and a lot of training. Just kind of getting my body prepared for what I went through last year and kind of having a year under my belt, so I kind of understand what I need to work on.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Do you remember the first time you ever dunked a basketball?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: First time I dunked a basketball? Maybe 8th grade, maybe?<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: What was that feeling like?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I felt like the man! I feel like the world\u2014I feel like the world was on my shoulders.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Okay. How can you compare that, in comparison to appearing in your first NBA Finals this year?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: We lost, so I mean, that\u2014the feeling was the complete opposite.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Okay.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I\u2019d say if we won, it\u2019d probably be the best feeling ever, but\u2026 I mean, we didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Have you had time to digest that?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I took\u2026 took a few weeks off after the season. Allowed myself to gather my thoughts. Just\u2026 assessed the whole year plus the Finals and just understand moving forward what I have to do and what I need to do for myself and for the team for us to get over that hump.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Where do you feel that you have improved this off-season and how will this coming season be better?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Well, I\u2019d definitely say my body. I think it was a big thing going into the off-season, just kind of\u2014not slim down in a sense, but allowing my body to kind of grow up and in a way mature. Definitely hit the weight room and conditioning, but just tightening everything up, like my shot, my handle, getting up and down the floor and just really my all-around game. And then the other aspect is just I\u2019ve learned so much in just a short time span with the Spurs that now I\u2019ve understood how I can apply that to my game and make all of us better.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: I know you to be a basketball mind. Have you sat down and thought about any other rookie\u2014I think I know your answer, but any other rookie in their first year that\u2019s gone to the Finals, put up the numbers that you did, or even just appeared and had an impact? Is there anyone that comes to mind?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I mean, not naturally. I think that\u2026 I can definitely say during the year, like, I think it\u2019s\u2026 I think it\u2019s natural to kind of compare yourself to other people, compare yourself to what\u2019s going on around the league. But the great vets in the locker room, I\u2019ve kind of learned to just go at your own pace, go at your own level, go at your own speed, because at the end of the day, you can only control what you\u2019re doing in 24 hours and you can control what happens every day. So, I mean, I kind of not\u2014I don\u2019t look to compare myself, but obviously, you see it everywhere. It\u2019s hard not to see it.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Magic Johnson went to the NBA Finals as a rookie.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Yeah.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: How often have people in your circle, or things that you\u2019ve read online\u2014you\u2019ve seen it\u2014do you think about that?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Yeah, definitely. But a little different, he won, you know, he had the Finals MVP, he had all that. But I think just in a sense, I can compare my Finals run to his run and just see the things that he did to make himself successful. And I think that\u2019s probably what I\u2019ve taken most from it.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: I have a serious question.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Uh-huh.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: I think the world of you and I think the world of De\u2019Aaron Fox. The internet suggests that there\u2019s something there. How can you dispel that myth?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I mean, I feel like what\u2019s understood doesn\u2019t need to be explained. I mean, Fox basically took me under his wing my whole first year and helped me and allowed me to grow in this space. And my thing is, me and him never had a problem. Like, what\u2019s\u2014I\u2019ve never seen a problem playing with two to three ball-handlers on the floor. Everyone last year said that it was not going to work, this, that and the third, but I think it worked pretty fine this year. I think we exceeded expectations a lot. So, I mean\u2026 for me, all I care about is doing what\u2019s best for the team and winning and he is a big factor and he\u2019s a big piece in us winning now and in the future. So, I mean, for me, I have no\u2014I don\u2019t have anything bad to ever say about him because, at the end of the day, he\u2019s taught me so much. And he\u2019s taught me so much about the league and how to grind and just\u2026 take control of the game. And it\u2019s like\u2026 it\u2019s little things, like I\u2019m close with him\u2026 every time I see his son, every time I see his family, like, we\u2019re all super close. So it\u2019s like me and him have a great relationship where it\u2019s like, that\u2019s kind of my\u2014I joke with him all the time, it\u2019s kind of my uncle. He kind of like\u2014he just teaches me things that I don\u2019t think anyone else that hasn\u2019t been in his position could teach me.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: The Spurs have you, De\u2019Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle. When I think of three guards, like back in the \u201980s, I think of the Detroit Pistons with Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas and Vinnie Johnson\u2014that\u2019s before your time.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: Yeah.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: But are there any teams that you\u2019ve watched growing up where you\u2019ve seen three dominant guards dominate like that?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I mean, not really. I think what\u2019s so special is that we\u2019re three dominant guards, but we both\u2014we all play both sides of the ball. And I feel like there\u2019s 6\u20193\u2033, 6\u2032 5\u2033 and 6 \u20186\u2033. Me and Steph can guard 1 through 3, 1 through 4. So, I mean, I feel like there hasn\u2019t been a team like us assembled where we all\u2014like, we all play both sides of the ball and we\u2019re unselfish all the time.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: Your head coach Mitch Johnson and his relationship with you guys mirrors the relationship that your brother has with Mazzulla in Boston. The young coach, relatable, knows the game. I feel like the world kind of was introduced to who Mitch Johnson was, but if you\u2019re a basketball lifer, you know who he is.How inspirational and how\u2014how much does he fit with you guys?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: He fits perfectly. I feel like he\u2019s a player\u2019s coach. He obviously played, played in college, played pro. He understands\u2014he understands what goes through a player\u2019s head, and I think that\u2019s very important for any coach because he\u2019s not naive to the days where maybe we all don\u2019t want to be there, but we got to get better. He\u2019s not naive to all the little things that go on in people\u2019s lives off the court and on the court. So, I mean, he\u2019s been great just allowing us to grow, but by also teaching us the game because he\u2019s been\u2014he\u2019s a great coach. He\u2019s been around Coach Pop forever. He kind of has that background where like, he has that pedigree of where you have to respect him in a sense. So, I mean, him and the rest of the staff, I think they\u2019ve\u2014I think they\u2019ve put up a great kind of structure for us, and they just allowed us to grow. And he\u2019s growing right with us.<\/p>\n
Brandon \u201cScoop B\u201d Robinson: You mentioned Pop. During the playoffs and throughout the course of last season, how instrumental has Coach Pop been to your development?<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper: I mean, just to have someone of that\u2026 that pedestal, that\u2019s seen everyone, been with everyone\u2026 the things he\u2019ll say to me or the things he\u2019ll appreciate in me, of just being me, go out there, play your game, because at the end of the day, like\u2026 he knows who I am. He might know who I am better than I know who I am, in a sense of he\u2026 like in times where I might be a little passive or I might not be as aggressive, like\u2026 he will calmly send me texts like, \u201cNo, like this is not how you\u2019re going to play. You\u2019re going to play like how we know you can play.\u201d And I feel like just having that push from a legend like that is unbelievable.<\/p>\n
As Dylan Harper gears up for his sophomore campaign, his focus remains rooted in steady progression, physical maturity and building upon San Antonio\u2019s rising culture. Armed with high-level playoff experience and guided by a hall-of-fame ecosystem, the young guard is positioned to take another significant leap forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From high school stardom in New Jersey to leading Rutgers as the highest-rated recruit in program history, Dylan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-430487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}