By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-07 15:59:31
2026年4月6日周一，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的一场NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫迪伦·哈珀 (2) 对阵费城76人队投进三分球后，现场观众反应热烈。马刺队以115-102获胜。
回想起来，卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 能准确指出迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 错失奖项的那一刻。
那发生在去年6月25日晚上8点15分后的纽约。NBA总裁亚当·萧华 (Adam Silver) 宣布了决定，哈珀在走向舞台的路上拿起了一顶马刺队的球帽，一场评选活动在开始之前就基本宣告结束了。
“道理很简单，如果他被其他28支球队选中，他就会是年度最佳新秀，”布莱恩特谈到他的圣安东尼奥同届新秀队友时说道，“除了这里和俄克拉荷马城（OKC）？他本可以遥遥领先。”
随着常规赛进入最后三场，哈珀当然没有在评选中遥遥领先。在接下来的一个月里，NBA将发布另一项公告，马刺队连续产生年度最佳新秀的纪录将止步于两人。在投票中，哈珀几乎肯定会排在夏洛特的康·克努佩尔 (Kon Knueppel)、达拉斯的库珀·弗拉格 (Cooper Flagg) 以及费城的V.J. 艾奇库姆 (V.J. Edgecombe) 之后。
但这里有双重利好：对于马刺队来说，哈珀没有机会通过刷数据来赢得那个奖项，这无疑是一件好事。而对于哈珀来说，从长远来看，这可能同样对他有利。
“我知道我脑子里有一个不同的目标，”这位20岁的控球后卫在周一晚上说道。
值得称赞的是，哈珀从一开始就意识到了其中的利害关系。去年5月，当又一次幸运的乐透抽签让马刺队获得了2025年选秀大会的榜眼签时，情况变得很明朗：哈珀将加入一支已经拥有德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 的圣安东尼奥后场。
哈珀和他的家人并没有试图避开这个目的地——这种策略并非不可想象——而是欣然接受了加入一支正在崛起的新兴强队的机会，即便这几乎保证了他在可预见的未来会被降为替补角色。
正如布莱恩特所言，如果哈珀去了夏洛特顶替克努佩尔的位置，或者去了费城顶替艾奇库姆的位置，抑或是其他二十多个可能的去处，他的数据和最佳新秀履历现在看起来会亮眼得多。
“我也许会在别的地方，迪伦也可能在别的地方，我们可能会在那里上场，但会积累大量的糟糕经验并养成坏习惯，”去年6月被马刺队以第14顺位选中的布莱恩特说道，“赛季进行到现在，我回头一看，也许我场均能拿14分，迪伦场均能拿20到25分。”
“但那没有任何意义，你明白我的意思吗？我们不会学到如何赢得比赛，也不会学到在不得分时如何影响比赛。”
明确地说，布莱恩特关于哈珀数据表现的说法，并不仅仅是一个19岁少年的凭空臆测。任何深入研究基础数据之外的分析都表明，哈珀的整体产出与那些最佳新秀的热门人选一样令人印象深刻。
例如，以每36分钟的数据计算，哈珀场均18.9分和5.4个篮板，与克努佩尔（21.4分和6.1个篮板）、弗拉格（22.4分和7.0个篮板）以及艾奇库姆（16.5分和5.7个篮板）相比毫不逊色。
不仅如此，哈珀2.74的助攻失误比远超其他三人，而且他在每100回合的净得分（根据ESPN Analytics数据）在所有新秀中仅次于克努佩尔。
2026年4月6日周一，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的一场NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫迪伦·哈珀 (2) 对阵费城76人队投进三分球后庆祝。马刺队以115-102击败了76人队。
很容易想象这样一种情景：哈珀被要求扮演一个更主导的角色——就像维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和卡斯尔在他们的新秀赛季所做的那样，也像克努佩尔和弗拉格本赛季所做的那样——并在投票中胜出。
“如果他拥有那些机会，”卡斯尔说，“毫无疑问，他就会是（年度最佳新秀）。”
但这并不是马刺队需要他做的。拥有文班亚马、卡斯尔和福克斯，他们已经拥有了足够多的球星来作为进攻核心。
可以说，马刺队对哈珀的要求甚至更具挑战性。他们需要一个极具天赋的球员，去摸索如何在这些成名球星身边在攻防两端都打出高效表现，并需要他在队友享受聚光灯时保持平常心。
“对于一个几乎一辈子都是超级巨星的人来说，这很难，”福克斯说。
“我从未感觉到他不想（接受配角角色），”马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道，“我确信他有过这种想法，因为他是人。但很高兴看到他因为把团队放在首位而得到回报。”
显然，他的回报将与克努佩尔或弗拉格不同。
哈珀在罗格斯大学度过了一个没有经历过“疯狂三月”的赛季，这让他成为了马刺更衣室里那些来自康涅狄格、肯塔基、杜克和北卡校友们善意嘲讽的对象。在接下来的一个月里，他应该会获得充足的季后赛经验。
除此之外呢？哈珀已经确立了自己作为马刺队长期未来不可或缺的一部分，他清楚地知道自己的定位。从这个角度来看，年度最佳新秀的投票已经变得无关紧要了。
“就是不去和任何人比较，跑好我自己的比赛，”哈珀说，“我们都处在不同的境遇中。我很庆幸自己能身处现在的环境中。”
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Why ending Rookie of the Year streak benefits Spurs, Dylan Harper
Why ending Rookie of the Year streak benefits Spurs, Dylan Harper
The crowd reacts after San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) makes a 3-pointer against the Philadelphia 76ers during an NBA game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Monday, April 6, 2026. The Spurs won 115-102.
Looking back on it, Carter Bryant can pinpoint the exact moment when Dylan Harper lost an award.
It happened last June 25, a little after 8:15 p.m. in New York. NBA commissioner Adam Silver made an announcement, Harper picked up a Spurs hat on his way to the stage, and a campaign essentially ended before it started.
“It’s as simple as, if he would’ve been drafted by 28 other teams, he’d be the Rookie of the Year,” Bryant said of his San Antonio draft classmate. “Other than here and OKC, maybe? He’d be running away with it.”
Heading into the final three games of the regular season, Harper isn’t running away with it, of course. At some point in the next month, the NBA will make another announcement, and the Spurs’ streak of Rookie of the Year winners will end at two, with Harper almost certainly finishing behind the likes of Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel and Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and maybe Philadelphia’s V.J. Edgecombe in the voting.
But here’s the double-dose of upside: For the Spurs, the fact that Harper did not get the chance to accumulate the numbers needed to win that award is unquestionably a good thing. And for Harper, it might work out just as well in the long run.
“I know I kind of have a different goal in mind,” the 20-year-old point guard said Monday night.
To his immense credit, Harper recognized the dynamics at play here from the very beginning. Last May, when another fortunate lottery-ball bounce landed the Spurs the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft, it became clear that Harper was going to join a San Antonio backcourt that already included De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle.
Rather than try to steer himself away from that destination — a tactic that wouldn’t have been unthinkable — Harper and his family embraced the chance to join an up-and-coming power, even if it all but guaranteed he’d be relegated to a bench role for the foreseeable future.
To Bryant’s point, if Harper had ended up in Charlotte in Knueppel’s place, or in Philadelphia in Edgecomb’s spot, or in at least two dozen other possible landing spots, his numbers and his Rookie of the Year résumé would look a lot more impressive right now.
“I could be somewhere else, and Dylan could be somewhere else, and we could be playing and getting a ton of bad reps and bad habits,” said Bryant, who the Spurs took with the 14th overall pick last June. “The year would have progressed, and I look up and maybe I’m averaging 14 points, and Dylan’s averaging 20 to 25 points.
“But it wouldn’t be counting for anything, you know what I mean? We wouldn’t be learning how to win basketball games, and how to affect the game when you’re not scoring the ball.”
To be clear, Bryant’s claims about how Harper’s stat line would look with another franchise aren’t merely the wild speculation of a 19-year-old. Any look beyond the basic numbers shows that Harper’s overall production has been just as impressive as that the top Rookie of the Year contenders.
For instance, on a per-36 minutes basis, Harper’s averages of 18.9 points and 5.4 rebounds compare favorably with Knueppel (21.4 and 6.1), Flagg (22.4 and 7.0) and Edgecombe (16.5 and 5.7).
But beyond that, Harper’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.74 blows the other three away, and his net points per 100 possessions (according to ESPN Analytics) trails only Knueppel among rookies.
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) reacts after making a 3-pointer against the Philadelphia 76ers during an NBA game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, April 6, 2026. The Spurs defeated the 76ers 115-102.
It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which Harper was asked to play a more dominant role — as both Victor Wembanyama and Castle did during their rookie seasons, and as both Knueppel and Flagg have done — and prevailed in the voting.
“If he had those opportunities,” Castle said, “it would be no question he’d be it (the Rookie of the Year).”
But that’s not what the Spurs needed from him. In Wembanyama, Castle and Fox, they already were loaded with stars to serve as the focal point of the offense.
What they asked of Harper, arguably, was even more challenging. They needed a super-talented guy to figure out how to thrive at both ends of the court alongside all of those three older stars, and they needed him to do this while being OK with letting his teammates get the shine.
“That’s a hard thing for someone who’s basically been a superstar his whole life,” Fox said.
“Not once have I felt him not want to (embrace a supporting role),” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I’m sure he has, because he’s human. But it’s nice to see him get rewarded for putting the team first.”
His rewards, obviously, will be different than Knueppel’s or Flagg’s will.
Harper, whose March Madness-less season at Rutgers still makes him the good-natured target of ridicule among the Connecticut, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina alumni in the Spurs’ locker room, should get plenty of postseason experience over the next month.
And beyond that? Having cemented himself as an integral part of the Spurs’ long-term future, Harper knows exactly how he fits. In that regard, the Rookie of the Year voting is irrelevant.
“Just not comparing myself to anyone, and just kind of running my own race,” Harper said. “We’re all in different situations. I’m blessed being in this one.”
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News