Carter Bryant’s first taste of NBA life came with a rude awakening.
The San Antonio Spurs took the forward with the No. 14 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft after Brian Wright said he wasn’t expecting Bryant to still be there. The general manager admitted he even tried to move up for him.
"I actually tried to make some moves to potentially go and get him," the San Antonio Spurs' general manager admitted after the selection. "Things just kind of break sometimes."
Once Bryant arrived in San Antonio, the lessons started quickly. He and Rutgers standout Dylan Harper came in from Brooklyn, N.Y. and met with team officials before getting to work with the coaches. Spurs shooting coach Jimmy Baron wasted no time turning practice into a test.
On the second day, Bryant was assigned to defend Devin Vassell.
"I'll never forget it," Bryant said, laughing during a July appearance on "Road Trippin’ Show" while in Las Vegas for NBA Summer League 2026. "I've never seen a human being hit that many contested shots ... I promise you, he probably hit 18 shots in a row."
That wasn’t the only rough patch. Bryant said two weeks of getting worked in the post by veteran center Kelly Olynyk left him questioning whether he belonged.
"I should not have put my name in the draft," Bryant recalls thinking during his early days in San Antonio. "I am not ready to be here ...
I (was) like, "This is bad. I don't belong here.'"
Vassell, though, was doing exactly what he said he would do. In a season that ended with San Antonio’s first NBA Finals berth since 2014, he was one of Mitch Johnson’s steadiest shooters.
Across 23 appearances, the shooting guard averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 43 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3. That made him second on the roster behind 25-year-old Julian Champagnie.
Bryant took notice. The rookie started staying after practice, watching Vassell work.
"I sit there and watch him shoot for 15-20 minutes," Bryant said. "As much as he's my teammate, he's one of my favorite players to watch. He's electric when he gets hot."
That study seemed to pay off later in the year. After Bryant hit a pair of big 3s in a late-season game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Johnson signaled that Bryant would have a postseason role, even if it was a limited one. Bryant delivered enough to stay in the mix.
"His drive to want to get better and learn more has been off the charts," Keldon Johnson said during The Finals. "He's so locked in.
He's taking notes. He's energetic, doing everything we ask him to do.
It's been good to see C.B. (and) how far he's come this season."
Added Johnson: "Carter has been as coachable as anybody."
Bryant finished the playoffs averaging just under 10 minutes per game and shot 41 percent from 3 when he got his chances. He said the loss in the championship round will sting, but he plans to use it as fuel moving forward.
And after everything he saw in practice, he probably looks a lot more comfortable dealing with Vassell now.
"I think I showed flashes of what I'm capable of in the future," Bryant said, "but ... there's a lot of work I have to do ... if I'm going to be one of the best players in the world."
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