The Spurs keep rolling, and Dylan Harper is giving them another weapon to lean on.
San Antonio has won nine straight, with Victor Wembanyama playing like an MVP and several others stepping up around him. Harper has been right in the middle of that surge, and what’s starting to stand out isn’t just how often he gets downhill. It’s the fact that he’s adding a mid-range layer that can make the whole offense harder to guard.
After a strong rookie season, Harper forced his way into the starting lineup, and he’s backed up Mitch Johnson’s decision. He’s putting up 18 points per game on 51% shooting, plus 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
The scoring numbers are one thing. The way he’s getting them is what matters.
Harper has already established himself as one of the league’s best interior finishers. His handle lets him turn the corner, and his explosiveness lets him finish through traffic at the rim.
But for the Spurs to squeeze even more out of his game, he needed to become more than a straight-line driver. Lately, that part of his package has started to show up.
That was on display in San Antonio’s 122-96 road win over the Phoenix Suns. Harper started a little shaky in the first half, then took over in the third quarter with a burst that showed both his power and his touch.
He still did plenty of damage going to the basket, but the mid-range work was the real eye-opener. On one possession, he drove hard, slammed on the brakes with a tight pull-back dribble, and created just enough room for a jumper inside the arc.
On another, he attacked from the right-side elbow, used a half-spin, and knocked down a shot just inside the free-throw line. He also buried a difficult Jordan-esque fadeaway over Ryan Dunn’s extended arms.
That’s the kind of scoring that changes the shape of an offense. Teams already know Harper can get to the rim.
Now they have to worry about what happens when they beat him to the spot and take away the drive. If he can punish that with pull-ups, spins, and fadeaways, he’s no longer just an attacker - he’s a counterpunch.
And that matters even more as his role grows. The Spurs won’t be in runaway mode every night, and close games are coming. When those moments arrive, Harper is going to be asked to create offense with the game on the line.
If he keeps pairing rim pressure with a real mid-range threat, he can become the kind of clutch scorer San Antonio can trust late. The Suns game offered a clear hint that he’s moving in that direction.
In Other News...
Spurs Blowouts Are Hiding Just How Far Wembanyama Could Go
Victor Wembanyama keeps flashing the kind of ceiling that makes it easy to forget how early this still is for him. Even with the Spurs rolling through a string of lopsided wins, he has still stacked up eye-catching production on a per-minute basis, including stretches that hint at a far bigger statistical load if the games stayed competitive longer.
The blowouts have also meant San Antonio has not needed to lean on him for full workloads, which is part of why his raw totals still feel like a preview rather than the finished product. When he has been on the floor, the numbers have been loud enough to turn heads, and the real question now is how much more there is once the Spurs start asking him to carry those minutes in tighter games. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Is Making The Spurs Look Like A Real Problem
The Spurs are starting to look less like a nice early-season story and more like a team opponents have to plan around. San Antonio stretched its winning streak to nine games with a 122-96 road win over Phoenix, and Victor Wembanyama was the center of everything, piling up 40 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots while controlling the game at both ends.
Phoenix had Devin Booker in attack mode with 32 points, but the Suns never found enough help or enough answers around the basket. For San Antonio, the bigger takeaway is how complete this run has become, with Wembanyama anchoring a team that is winning away from home and making the rest of the West take notice. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Just Gave Spurs Fans Another Reason To Believe
Victor Wembanyama keeps giving the Spurs reasons to think this fast start is more than a hot stretch. On Nov. 9, San Antonio rolled past Phoenix 122-96 to run its winning streak to eight games, and the rookie center was at the center of it again, pouring in 40 points on 15-of-19 shooting while adding 11 rebounds. The Spurs controlled the glass and the paint, pairing Wembanyamas efficiency with a defensive edge that has become part of their identity during this surge.
Devin Bookers 32 points kept the Suns from disappearing entirely, but Phoenix never matched San Antonios energy or physicality and dropped to 3-6. For the Spurs, the bigger picture is hard to ignore: they are 9-2 and winning in ways that suggest this start is built on more than one standout night. The next question is how long this can last once the schedule tightens and the league keeps adjusting to Wembanyamas presence. [Read more 🡒]