Entering the 2026-27 NBA season, his second pro, Dylan Harper feels a lot like 2002 Tom Brady. Don’t take it out of context. There is no suggestion that Harper, who is still five months shy of his 21st birthday, is on a Brady-like career path, although we can all agree his potential seems close to its limits.
But in 2002, no one said Brady was going to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Then his only one-time run — an incredible one in leading the Patriots to an unexpected Super Bowl victory over the Roms — would go off. But that was enough to know that we are looking at the birth of a super player.
Same thing with Harper, who went from an obviously good player with an obviously bright future in his first NBA regular season to something no one saw coming, at least not anytime soon, in his first season with the spurs.
No, it didn’t end in a championship like Brady’s first season did. But damn near. The Spurs swept the champion Thunder in seven games in the conference finals and held the lead for 72% of the total minutes played against the Knicks in the finals, and Harper – no disrespect to the 2002 Brady here – was not there. managing games he dominated them. Flat out taking in the biggest rooms.
There was an OK Corral shootout with Scoot Henderson in the first round.
There were 51 points and 22 rebounds on 19-of-29 shooting over three games in the second round of San Antonio’s second-round win over the two-time reigning conference finalist Timberwolves, a run that included one of the nastiest full-speed drops you’ll see on an NBA court.
All of that was out of the question. With Harper making his first career playoff start in Game 1 of the conference finals, which De’Aaron Fox missed with an ankle injury, the Thunder delivered 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists over 47 minutes in a double-overtime win over the Spurs.
In the future sign, Harper composed for 30 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on 11-of-17 shooting and 66% from 3 over games 6 and 7 against OKC to send San Antonio to the Finals, where he went on to score 18 PPG in the Knicks – the second highest per-game scoring average in history by a rookie in the finals and 5 with 56 coming in the final games, with 56 coming in the final games, 4 similar Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama.
Harper has been so good in recent games, it’s almost hard to put into words. He already looks like one of the toughest per-contact finishers in the league. His cunning and his strength as above years. It’s almost impossible to get outside the paint, there’s a cartoon in the middle, the 3-point shot is coming, and he defends like a man. Not like a 20 year old with a ton of lateral strength and length. As a man. In the same way it ends in the trade. Like you said something bad about his family.
If the Spurs told you they knew Harper was going to be good this first time, they’d be lying. They thought it would be slower, or at least slower. As a result, they traded De’Aaron Fox and later signed him to a four-year, $229 million contract that begins this season.
It was a simple plan. The foxes start. Harper would come off the bench until he was ready to take the reins – maybe in a year or so. Perhaps already. But that plan was fired like Harper’s, so it’s clear to start nowand leaves San Antonio in a potentially precarious position entering the 2026-27 season.
In a recent interview with GQ, Harper had this to say – in part in an exchange with teammate Stephon Castle, who was also in the feature, when the subject of his initiative or possibly coming to the bench came up again this year.
“He’s going to win Sixth Man of the Year this year.” [Harper] he said.
“You’re nothing, bro,” Castle taunted.
It is surprising that the prize which looks at the best player who comes off the bench is considered; just a month ago in a press conference after the Finals, teammate Devin Vassell suggested that Harper was frustrated with “playing time and different roles.”
“The Sixth Man of the Year is going to win,” Harper insists.
“You’re not going to be the sixth man,” Castle says. “Who are you to the Sixth Man?”
“Do I, the king, know God?” Answers the guitar player.
You don’t think you’re going to sit down, do you? cut m.
“What is the political answer here?” At Harper’s he says, looking down on my comments again. He calibrates his voice to his cheeriest pitch: “I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do, man. If we’re going to go like this…bench.”
It ends. “It’s crazy. F–k no. I’m not coming to no bench.”
And there you have it. Harper did not come to the bench this season, regardless of the politically correct status he took on the Spurs on Monday when he returned to the “do whatever I can to help the team win” well.
The real question is whether Fox will start at position three opposite Harper and Castle or whether Fox, or every star who made a lot of money last year, will switch spots with Harper and become the new sixth man for the spurs.
“I’m not worried at all,” Fox said in the GQ article. “This is not my plan to do. I go in, control what I can, and try to help us win the best.”
Now, the Foxes can bring luxury to the Spurs. Wembanyama, Castle and Harper are still playing on their rookie contracts (Wembanyama’s $252 million extension starts in 2027-28), but it’s not just about the money. We’re talking NBA all-star inflation.
Now everyone says it right, and it feels genuine. For Harper, it would be less mature for his age. Fox prol. Boots are boots. Don’t expect this to be a problem, because if it is, frankly, the Spurs will probably trade Fox soon. That’s where the ‘good’ is heading anyway, but if they could keep one year of Fox as an absolute luxury third party, well, why not?
One way or another, Dylan Harper is going to start the season in San Antonio. It’s just too good. He broke into it, just like Tom Brady did, and there was nothing to look at.