SAN ANTONIO - Dylan Harper’s first season with the Spurs ended with a crash course in what winning at the highest level really demands, and by the time the playoffs were over, the rookie had seen enough to know he was in the right place.
“Not a lot of people get this experience,” the San Antonio Spurs' standout rookie told reporters during the Western Conference Finals in May, still weeks away from facing the New York Knicks on the biggest stage in basketball. “I feel like the locker room is great.”
That chemistry was a constant theme around the Spurs all season, and it mattered even more because this group was younger than every other team to reach the NBA Finals but two. Harper, still not old enough to drink locker room champagne, became part of that identity in a real way.
He compared the team’s bond to the AAU circuit.
“We’re around each other more than ... our families,” Harper said. “That’s kind of what you have to be if you want to be this good. We all do a great job at buying into the little things.”
Harper’s postseason numbers backed up how quickly he became more than just a rookie learning on the fly. In 23 playoff appearances, he averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and one steal while shooting 52 percent from the field. Each of those marks was higher than his regular-season production, and the extra responsibility showed.
His teammates noticed immediately. Even without an All-Star label, Harper played like someone who belonged. Twenty-year-olds usually don’t look that calm in the biggest moments.
“The way he's able to get the paint (and) finish, I haven't seen it like that before,” Devin Vassell said. “Truthfully. To think he's just a rookie and he's going to keep growing, keep getting better - the sky is the limit for him ... the league is in trouble for a very long time.”
Harper’s value showed up in different combinations, too. He rarely shared the floor with both De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, but he still found ways to matter alongside each of them separately. In two-man lineups that played at least 20 playoff games, Harper was part of the top two.
“We’re three dominant guards, but we all play both sides,” he said.
Even with that impact, there were questions about how often he should have been closing games. Mitch Johnson, who doubled down on trusting Fox in crunch time on the day of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, leaned on the 28-year-old’s experience instead.
That choice showed up in Game 1, when Harper sat the final four minutes and San Antonio watched an 11-0 Knicks run turn a lead into a 1-0 series hole. It wasn’t the only tense stretch in which Harper found himself on the bench, but he never pushed back publicly.
Three months later, he made his feelings on Johnson clear in an interview with Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson.
“He fits perfectly," Harper said of Johnson. "He’s a player’s coach ... he understands what goes through a player’s head, and I think that’s very important.
He’s been great just allowing us to grow, but also teaching us the game. He’s growing right with us.”
Johnson’s view of Harper was just as strong. Beyond the talent, he praised the rookie for accepting a role that wasn’t built around him.
“He didn't just get this talented or this good," Johnson said. "For him to buy into the role in front of him ... it's hard to do any time. To do it as a rookie in the playoffs is ridiculous.”
Johnson will have plenty to review before he meets with the media for the first time in late September, but he has made it clear that his decision to stick with Fox in pressure moments was not personal.
Harper should have an even larger role this season, and if that doesn’t mean a starting job, he still has another familiar voice around the Spurs. Gregg Popovich remains in frequent contact with the team behind the scenes.
“He might know who I am better than I know who I am,” Harper said. “In times where I might be a little passive, he’ll ... send me texts like, ‘No, this is not how you’re going to play.
You’re going to play how we know you can play.’ Having that push from a legend ... is unbelievable.”
Harper says he’s ready to keep approaching everything the same way, whether he starts or comes off the bench again. The bigger goal is simple: keep trusting the people around him and keep building toward another Finals run.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Harper said. “This is where I’m supposed to be.”
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The tradeoff is the kind of problem winning teams usually welcome. Castle has been part of a defense that ranks among the leagues best, but Wembanyamas gravity can make it harder for the work around him to get the individual credit it deserves. For San Antonio, that is a sign of how far the group has come. For Castle, it leaves an open question about how much recognition can break through when the franchise centerpiece is already drawing so much attention. [Read more 🡒]