By Isiah Christie
New Jersey’s Rutgers University is known for its prestige in men’s basketball, and that has certainly translated to the modern National Basketball Association (NBA) landscape. The school produced two top five draft selections in what is universally regarded as an incredibly talented draft class, a true testament to its prestige – and Dylan Harper, selected second overall by the San Antonio Spurs, is slated to represent the university in high-rise fashion.
Harper has basketball excellence in his blood – he is the son of five-time NBA Champion Ron Harper, who enjoyed a fifteen-year career in the league with plenty of successes attached. Ron Harper was a Rookie of the Year runner-up, fellow lottery pick, and one of the only NBA players to win three championships in a row, doing so as a starter on the infamous Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. These are the successes common to the family, and Dylan Harper looks to embody that prestige as a newfound member of one of basketball’s most intriguing clubs.
The San Antonio Spurs are young, but incredibly promising. The organization is well-known for being among the NBA’s most well-run historically, having won five championships in their existence and only experiencing six losing seasons in the 21st century, all of which have been in this ongoing 2020s decade. They are closely-watched by pundits due to the presence of bubbling superstar Victor Wembanyama, who is one of the most elusive prospects of all-time and is fully expected to usher in another era of treasures for the Texan team. Wembanyama has been paired with several talented pieces, including fellow All-Star De’Aaron Fox, 2025 Rookie of the Year, Stephon Castle, and now Harper himself – and the potential is looking spicy.
Harper brings yet another layer of promise to a gifted Spurs guard rotation that is notable for their athleticism and offensive prowess. Fox brings veteran creation and Castle is a supreme athlete. Harper falls somewhere in the middle. He is certainly an unpolished product, as is expected of any nineteen-year-old entering the big leagues. However, his skill is already incredible for his age. He possesses controlled, skilled scoring ability with a great handle and natural passing – just about everything you’d want in a future star guard. He is considered to be an inconsistent shooter as far as potential goes, which is somewhat of a concern, but his upside in other areas is more than enough to render him a positive prospect.
He is also expected to be a net positive defensive force – while his play on that end was considered inconsistent in college due to middling effort and spotty fundamentals. He will likely grow into a full-time ball-stopper as part of a San Antonio camp that stresses effort and discipline. His natural height and physical capabilities will also aid him in this quest, cementing the Spurs as a dominant defensive unit with him, the defensively-gifted Stephon Castle, and Wembanyama, who is a consensus pick for Defensive Player of the Year assuming health.
It is hard to say whether the Spurs will catapult into winning territory immediately this season – it is fully dependent on health, something their top two players, Wembanyama and Fox, have lacked over the past year. Should they reach winning territory, it will work wonders for Harper’s development mentality and candidacy for major awards. However, even in a losing scenario, he will still benefit from the lack of pressure and ability to fixate on development. The reality is that the Spurs’ farm of highly-touted draftees is historically rare, and is likely to end up successful one way or another, and Rutgers and Spurs fans are most definitely hoping Harper is part of that story.
