NEW YORK – Unless something drastic occurs, the San Antonio Spurs are expected to select Rutgers guard Dylan Harper second overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Harper is widely considered one of the top four to five prospects in this year’s draft. Cooper Flagg (Duke), Dylan Harper (Rutgers), VJ Edgecombe (Baylor), Tre Johnson (Texas) and Ace Bailey (Rutgers) are being called the cream of this year’s crop.
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Dylan Harper is the son of former NBA player and five-time NBA champion Ron Harper. Dylan was a consensus five-star recruit coming out of Don Bosco Preparatory High School in New Jersey in the class of 2024.
He played in the 2024 McDonald’s All-American Game and was named co-MVP. His head coach for that game was Tommy Brakel from North Crowley High School, and Brakel has nothing but high praise for Harper.
“Dylan was as NBA ready as anybody we had,” Brakel said. “He was so NBA ready with everything that he did, I walked away thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, somebody is going to get them a steal.’”
Bruce Bowen, who won three NBA championships with the Spurs, told “The Right Time with Bomani Jones” podcast that the Spurs should draft Harper.
“No question,” Bowen said. “One of the things that Ron (Dylan’s dad) talks about is the culture of San Antonio for his son, being a professional basketball player in an environment where things can help him continuously improve not just as a basketball player, but as an individual as well.”
NBA superstar Stephen Curry is all about Harper and Bailey. Curry spoke about the two during the regular season, expressing his admiration.
“Those two guys individually, obviously, they’re super talented, but talent can only take you so far,” Curry said. “Like, what’s your mentality about how much better can you get? How hard do you work? Are you coachable? Stuff like that, and they showed that.”
“Dylan especially, he was funny. He guarded me in a couple of pick-up runs we had. I might not have scored on him, and I think he was mic’d up or something, and he was counting my stats in our matchup. But you love that competitiveness because they’re there to get better.”
Harper is a lefty combo guard who’s already being billed as a James Harden-esque driver to the rim. He’s 6 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs 213 pounds and is a score-first playmaker with good court vision.
Harper is generally regarded as the second-best prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft, behind Flagg, who is expected to go first overall to the Dallas Mavericks.
The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25, and can be watched live on KSAT 12.
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