By Cam Wolf / GQ, 2026-09-28
摄影：Gem Hale
年轻后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔与迪伦·哈珀，今年一路把圣安东尼奥带进了NBA总决赛（当然，也有文班亚马的一点帮助）。他们能否走出在主场惨痛落败的阴影，摆脱Jay-Z施下的“魔咒”，兑现近乎无限的潜力？
在Jay-Z插手之前，一切似乎都在好转。圣安东尼奥马刺在NBA总决赛中以0比2落后于纽约尼克斯，但第三场开局，他们很快取得了领先。这是麦迪逊广场花园27年来首次迎来总决赛。那天晚上，马刺的年轻后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 来到球馆时，本以为会面对一群更加凶悍的主场球迷，结果现场的声势却没有达到他们的预期。“第一场在那儿打，感觉挺一般的，”卡斯尔回忆道，“之前大家说得好像那里会疯狂得多。”
卡斯尔说，上一轮对阵雷霆时，有些时候“俄克拉荷马城的声音比麦迪逊广场花园大多了”。当时，外界并不看好他和马刺能够闯过那一关。不过，这支球队本身就已经足够不同寻常：他们是NBA历史上第二年轻的总决赛球队，仅次于1977年的开拓者。在出人意料地击败雷霆、试图在对阵纽约的总决赛中创造历史之前，他们就已打破了常规。NBA球员通常要到二十七八岁，甚至更晚，才会迎来巅峰，而马刺的领军人物却是22岁的文班亚马——身形像少年格鲁特，杀伤力也毫不逊色——以及21岁的卡斯尔，还有20岁的新秀哈珀，后者甚至还在适应长时间出场的负荷。
哈珀：夹克：Dolce & Gabbana；衬衫：Bottega Veneta哈珀：夹克：Dolce & Gabbana；衬衫：Bottega Veneta；长裤均为 Amiri；太阳镜：Ahlem；腕表及项链：Cartier；戒指均为 David Yurman。卡斯尔：夹克：Ralph Lauren Purple Label；针织衫及腰带：Brunello Cucinelli；太阳镜：Montblanc；腕表：Cartier；戒指均为David Yurman。
“‘均为’指本组照片中该人物所穿戴的同类单品。”
前一个赛季，他们还是一支胜率不足五成的球队，如今却以几乎前所未有的速度跻身争冠行列。文班亚马成长为世界上最出色的球员之一，当然是重要原因，但即便是这位身高约2.24米、站立摸高接近3.05米的法国天才，也需要帮手。“没有皮蓬，乔丹赢不了；没有贾巴尔，魔术师赢不了；没有克莱和追梦，库里也赢不了，”为The Ringer报道NBA、曾在马刺管理层担任战略研究副总裁的柯克·戈兹伯里 (Kirk Goldsberry) 说，“想拿NBA总冠军，你得有不止一位名人堂级别的球员。而马刺看起来有三个。”
说马刺这批年轻核心有能力让NBA未来的走向围绕他们展开，并不算高估他们的天赋。前提是，他们必须避开一路上的重重陷阱：薪资空间被挤压、膨胀的自我、伤病厄运……这些都足以毁掉一支前途无量的球队。
然而，在击败卫冕冠军雷霆，以及连续两届MVP得主谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 之后，马刺在总决赛中又遇到了一个新挑战：坐满场边的名人。第五场，也就是系列赛的最后一场，哈珀跑出球员通道，看到了自己最喜欢的演员之一、出演《权欲》的小迈克尔·雷尼 (Michael Rainey Jr.)。雷尼专程飞到圣安东尼奥看球，而且从不掩饰自己的立场。“整个系列赛，他发的都是尼克斯、尼克斯、尼克斯，”哈珀说，“有一阵子我差点把他拉黑了。”到了比赛现场，哈珀换了个办法：跑上球场时，假装没看见雷尼。
他也试过用同一招对付Jay-Z。一开始还管用，直到这位说唱歌手开始冲他喊话。据哈珀回忆，Jay-Z大喊着：“来啊！”随后，他举起双手，在空中比出Roc-A-Fella标志性的菱形手势，仿佛在给客队下咒。“我们就开始输了，”哈珀说，“从那以后，全他妈不对劲了。”
哈珀：衬衫：Wythe；T恤：自备；靴子：Tecovas；腕表：Cartier。卡斯尔：夹克：Hermès；衬衫：Tom Ford；T恤：Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello；牛仔裤：Wrangler；靴子：Tecovas；项链：自备；手链均为：David Yurman。
我们约在洛杉矶一家安静的早午餐店见面。只年长一点点的卡斯尔先到了：他穿着West Coast Choppers上衣，戴着Chrome Hearts项链，头上先包了一条Chrome Hearts头巾，再叠戴一顶做旧帽子。几分钟后，哈珀穿着一套灰色Nike Nocta运动服出现，两人立刻进入了一种无需多言便能心领神会的聊天节奏，像他们在球场上的配合一样流畅。
“去编辫子啊。”卡斯尔怂恿哈珀。
“兄弟，我可不会为了拍个照专门去编。”哈珀说。
“你编辫子那会儿才是巅峰啊，兄弟。真的，所以你那时候才能那么扣。”卡斯尔说。
“编着辫子的时候，我确实没少隔扣别人。”哈珀承认。
卡斯尔在亚特兰大附近长大，却拒绝了为老鹰试训。老鹰手握2024年选秀状元签，而卡斯尔不愿试训的部分原因，是不想在家乡球队当时的核心特雷·杨 (Trae Young) 身边沦为一个只能打无球的球员。此前，他在康涅狄格大学度过了大一赛季，效力于以严苛著称的主教练丹·赫尔利 (Dan Hurley)，并随队赢得全国冠军。最终，他在第四顺位被马刺选中。
卡斯尔的父亲在维克森林大学打球时，曾与马刺传奇蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 做过队友；哈珀则是五届NBA总冠军得主罗恩·哈珀 (Ron Harper) 的儿子，老哈珀曾在公牛和湖人辅佐迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan)、沙奎尔·奥尼尔 (Shaquille O’Neal) 和科比·布莱恩特 (Kobe Bryant)，赢下一枚又一枚冠军戒指。和其他顶尖新秀一样，哈珀与卡斯尔也参加过各种篮球训练营和比赛，两人的成长轨迹一直若即若离，却始终没有真正交会。直到哈珀来到马刺参加训练的第一天，卡斯尔就隔扣了他。没过多久，另一次训练中，这一幕又发生了：一记投篮打铁弹出，哈珀上前争抢篮板。
哈珀记得自己当时在想：“我就想，千万别他妈弹起来啊。”结果，“球正好弹到斯蒂芬手里”。卡斯尔飞身杀到，抓住球，隔着哈珀完成了扣篮。不过，这次扣篮到底算不算隔扣，两人至今仍有争议，而且在我们的谈话中不止一次提起。
“你那是补扣，才扣在我头上的，”哈珀说，“这你也算啊？”卡斯尔只是点了点头。
卡斯尔说，一开始，他能感觉到哈珀“暗暗憋着一股敌意”。训练中，这位新队友在球场两端都紧追着他不放——“拼了老命”，卡斯尔补充道。哈珀被选中的这支球队，后卫线上本来就已经人才济济。正如马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 所说：“人们很容易用一种叙事去看待这种局面：像桶里的螃蟹互相拉扯，看你们到底谁能爬出去。”
但卡斯尔很快就看到了哈珀成为自己后场搭档的潜力。从马刺训练营一开始，哈珀就在队内对抗赛中扛起了替补阵容。“从来不存在‘用这个人比用那个人更好’这种情况，”约翰逊说，“一直都是他们两个一起，效果才最好。”
衬衫：Versace；背心：自备；太阳镜：Jacques Marie Mage；腕表：Piaget。
T恤：Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello；牛仔裤：Wrangler；帽子：Stetson；腰带：Versace；太阳镜：Jacques Marie Mage；项链：自备。
在场外，两人也是好兄弟。“很不幸，是这样。”卡斯尔开玩笑道。他们交流起来，像是已经当了几十年队友：交换一个眼神，或是相视一笑，不用开口，就能把对我问题的反应传递给对方。他们对我那台正在工作的录音机格外警觉，哪怕回答最无关痛痒的问题，也会瞟它一眼。你最喜欢的球员是谁？哈珀说，是乔丹。（“我爸跟他关系挺近的……感觉我有义务喜欢他。”）季后赛里，谁是你们遇到过最难对付的球员？卡斯尔说，是森林狼那个“低配版乔丹”——安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards)。哈珀一下咧嘴笑了起来。“斯库特。”他说，点名了开拓者那位表现起伏不定的年轻后卫斯库特·亨德森 (Scoot Henderson)。过了一会儿，哈珀又提到了杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson)、吉尔杰斯-亚历山大，还有OG·阿努诺比 (OG Anunoby)。“不过他其实也没那么难防，”卡斯尔说，“他就是投不丢。”
NBA球员的天赋，就像好莱坞演员的明星气场：只要亲眼看到，你立刻就能确定。每当我问受访者，他们是从什么时候意识到这两个年轻后卫有多特别时，得到的答案总是如此——判断他们有多出色，只需要一双眼睛。马刺的老将控卫德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 说，自己第一次与这对组合并肩作战，对手是新奥尔良鹈鹕，打完那场球，他就看出来了。“就是那个时候，”福克斯说，“我们本来就知道，球队有机会变得不错。但当时我想的是：我们可以非常、非常出色。”
“没有皮蓬，乔丹赢不了；没有贾巴尔，魔术师赢不了；没有克莱和追梦，库里也赢不了。想拿NBA总冠军，你得有不止一位名人堂级别的球员。而马刺看起来有三个。”
篮球队的构成，在体育世界里几乎是独一无二的：它是一个小而精密的生态系统，就像一支爵士乐队。它介于两类运动之间：一边是网球，胜负主要取决于个人的进取心；另一边则是橄榄球或冰球，球员需要把自己融入统一的团队整体，才能赢球。马刺拥有文班亚马这位划时代的超级巨星，但如果他们最终兑现了惊人的潜力，哈珀与卡斯尔之间的默契，也一定是原因之一。友谊的力量可以成就一支球队，缺乏它也可能让球队分崩离析。哈珀和卡斯尔深知这一点有多重要。
“我们他妈输给了四个铁哥们儿。”哈珀说的是尼克斯的核心阵容，其中三人在大学时代就是队友。“我觉得，场外是朋友，会让你在场上打得更好，”卡斯尔说。哈珀接过话：“一切都会更顺。”
马刺上一个黄金时代刚开始时，邓肯、大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson)、肖恩·埃利奥特 (Sean Elliott) 和马利克·罗斯 (Malik Rose) 因为一起玩《星际争霸》而建立深厚友谊，并在1999年登顶夺冠，这段往事早已成为佳话。卡斯尔和哈珀所在的这支马刺，也建立起了类似的传统。球队一度热衷打牌——哈珀在大约三天里输了5000美元——随后大家基本改玩文班亚马挑选的桌游。“文班总能找来最稀奇古怪的游戏，”卡斯尔刚起了个头，哈珀就像接到空接传球一样把话接了过去：“然后我们十五个人就一起玩那个。”（号称“专为狡猾之人准备的派对游戏”的《狼人杀》，尤其受欢迎。）
赛季中打客场时，马刺球员会一起参加活动，也总会记得给队友庆祝生日。“还记得在休斯敦，文班玩疯了那次吗？”卡斯尔说，勾起了哈珀对一个难忘夜晚的回忆。那是1月下旬，全明星周末之前最漫长难熬的赛季阶段。马刺击败火箭后，全队先去吃饭，后来又转场到一家深夜营业的店。据两位后卫描述，文班亚马在那儿和队友们一起彻底放开了。卡斯尔说，他私下里有点憨、有点搞怪，就是个“普普通通的22岁小伙”。
“可能是有史以来第一次吧，”哈珀说，“然后下一场我们就输给了夏洛特。大家都长记性了。”不过，在一个球队化学反应足以左右成败的联盟里，拿几场常规赛胜利换取更深厚的队友情谊，或许也值得。
NBA历史上，有太多球队过早抵达巅峰。1995年总决赛，便士哈达威 (Penny Hardaway) 和奥尼尔领衔的奥兰多魔术意外输给休斯敦火箭，那本该只是他们迈向多个总冠军路上的一次小颠簸；拥有凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant)、詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 和拉塞尔·威斯布鲁克 (Russell Westbrook) 三位未来MVP的俄克拉荷马城雷霆，即便在2012年输给了热火，人们也以为他们此后会成为总决赛的常客。结果，这两支球队都没能再回到那里。
衬衫：Dolce & Gabbana；腕表：Audemars Piguet。
夹克：Tom Ford；衬衫：Dolce & Gabbana；背心：Zimmerli；长裤：Acne Studios，购自Mr. Porter；靴子：Savas。
但约翰逊相信，卡斯尔与哈珀的组合，让他的球队拥有某种独一无二的东西。“这两个年轻人有这样的天赋、潜力和近在眼前的大好前程，却不仅能彼此互补、为对方高兴，还能真心实意地为彼此的成功喝彩——这样的事，我从没经历过。”他说。
戈兹伯里说得更直接：“你有三个人，每一个都有可能入选最佳阵容一阵，而且全都不超过22岁——我是说，谁能没信心？”
当我提起那些曾被寄予王朝厚望、最终却未能成真的球队时，哈珀和卡斯尔都坚称，这支马刺有能力抵御当年拆散那些球队的力量。“因为我们都不自我。他们那个更衣室里，个个都太自我了。自我得要命。”卡斯尔说的是2012年那支星光熠熠的雷霆。“所以我们才这么强，”哈珀说，“我们队里有八个人，要是个个都只想着自己，根本不可能这么合拍。”
哈珀和卡斯尔正聊着这个休赛期感觉有多短，哈珀脸上突然绽开了笑容。
“今年我要拿最佳第六人。”他说。
“不，你拿不了，兄弟。”卡斯尔嗤之以鼻。
哈珀居然提起这个颁给最佳替补球员的奖项，着实有些出人意料。就在一个月前，总决赛结束后的新闻发布会上，队友德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 还曾暗示，哈珀一度对自己的“上场时间和所承担的不同角色”感到失落。
“我就是要拿最佳第六人。”哈珀坚持道。
“你不会是第六人，”卡斯尔说，“你给谁打替补啊？”
“我他妈哪知道——给上帝？”哈珀答道。
我插话问：你不会真觉得自己要打替补吧？
“这种时候，怎么回答才够得体？”哈珀说着，又低头看了看我的录音机。他把声调调到最欢快的状态：“兄弟，球队需要我做什么，我就做什么。要是需要我打替补……”
他停了下来。“扯淡。他妈的，绝不可能。我才不打替补。”
“兄弟，你只需要知道，你会在首发阵容里，”卡斯尔终结了这场讨论，“准备好上场打球就行了。”（之后聊着聊着，哈珀又收回了最佳第六人的说法：“我瞎说的，”他说，“你看我那会儿还笑着呢。”）
8月初，我采访米奇·约翰逊时，问到他是否可能让哈珀首发。他给出了一个标准得不能再标准的教练式回答：“目前我还没确定任何人的首发位置。”随后，他又补充道：“迪伦和斯蒂芬都会承担非常重要的角色。”不过，他也知道，联盟里的任何球员，只要得到的不是自己能争取到的最大角色，心里难免都会不痛快。“我希望每个球员都想投进所有球、防守最好的对手、打满所有时间、拿下所有分数，赢下所有比赛。”
夹克：Jacquemus；衬衫：Wythe；T恤：自备；长裤：Amiri；靴子：Tecovas。
福克斯已经积极承担起指导年轻后卫的职责，尽管他们的崛起可能会让他失去首发位置。“我一点也不担心这个，”这位在NBA打了九年的老将说，“这不是由我决定的。我来到球队，做好自己能掌控的事，努力帮助球队处在最有利于赢球的位置。”
从卡斯尔和哈珀身上，你已经能看到一对NBA历史级搭档的雏形。“就算文班亚马突然消失了，”戈兹伯里说，“只要有这两个人，马刺依然是联盟里未来最光明的球队之一。”
要让这幅初现的轮廓变得清晰，不仅要理顺场上角色，还得学会应对成为联盟明星随之而来的一切。穿搭当然已经变得越来越重要。重要到什么程度？在纽约的一场总决赛前，哈珀和队友卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 专门出门采购，为第二天去球馆准备行头。“巴黎世家肯定去了，买了一大堆东西。”哈珀说。
尽管他们在总决赛中一直打到6月中旬，两人的日程表上却已经再次排满了篮球活动。哈珀说，漫长的季后赛结束后，他的身体花了好几个星期才恢复正常。不过最近，他已经在圣巴巴拉重新训练，跑楼梯练体能。这个周末，他准备和哥哥、凯尔特人侧翼小罗恩·哈珀 (Ron Harper Jr.) 一起去特克斯和凯科斯群岛，其他一些队友则要去休斯敦和福克斯合练。7月下旬，他们还会前往巴黎，参加文班亚马组织的聚会。虽说不是球队官方活动，但已经和必须参加差不多了。当卡斯尔表示自己并非非去不可时，哈珀告诉他：“明年还想拿顶薪续约合同的话，你就会去。”
哈珀已经安排好，8月初回圣安东尼奥待上两周。“他们还按新秀那套给你安排呢。”卡斯尔说。再过不久，训练营就要全面启动。新赛季，也意味着这两个后卫又有机会去实现目标。卡斯尔说，要入选全明星和最佳防守阵容；还有——两人几乎同时说出了这句话——“拿总冠军”。
大衣：Zegna；衬衫：Wythe；T恤：自备；长裤：Amiri；靴子：Tecovas；腰带：Stetson。
“我已经翻篇了。”哈珀谈起总决赛时说。他转头问卡斯尔：“你翻篇了吗？”
我问，有没有哪个系列赛里的瞬间，至今还让他耿耿于怀。哈珀从口袋里掏出手机，翻出其中最痛苦的一幕，仿佛要借此证明自己真的已经放下：第四场，OG·阿努诺比补篮得手，完成了尼克斯从落后29分到翻盘的最后一击，那是总决赛历史上最大的一次逆转。作为球迷，即使一个月过去了，看着这一幕，我仍像在看恐怖片里的人物一步步走进地下室，恨不得冲他大喊：别去了！
随着尼克斯一点点填平分差，哈珀和卡斯尔能感觉到麦迪逊广场花园的地板在脚下震动。“那是我听过最吵的球馆。”哈珀一边说，一边拖动Instagram视频的进度条。他终于找到了想看的角度，指着篮下的自己：慢镜头里，他惊得张成“O”形的嘴，越张越大。
哈珀：夹克：Amiri；衬衫：Dolce & Gabbana；波洛领带：Montana Silversmiths；腰带：Boot Star；腕表：Piaget。
“这他妈也太好笑了。”哈珀说。
“不，”卡斯尔转过头去，“兄弟，我才不看这玩意儿。”
“我得看啊，兄弟。事情已经发生了。”哈珀说。
哈珀用了好几个星期，才摆脱总决赛失利留下的苦涩。重新投入训练之后，一切开始好受一些。“这能让我练得更狠。”他说。
NBA历史上的每一支伟大球队，都经历过痛苦的季后赛系列赛。这支马刺值得肯定的地方在于，他们的这次痛苦，发生在总决赛。卡斯尔和哈珀已经把失败放在了身后——“只限休赛期，我翻篇了，”哈珀说——但他们也在努力从中吸取该吸取的教训。“我不觉得这意味着：‘我靠，我们都打进去过了，再去一次很容易。’”哈珀说，“更多是我们明白了，走到那里到底需要付出什么。现在，就得把它做出来。”
我请他们展望未来五年：他们觉得自己能进几次总决赛？“希望五次吧，”哈珀说，“我是说，这就是目标。”
卡斯尔又一次接过后场搭档的话，把他的意思补完整：“我们会回去的。”
拍摄制作：摄影：Gem Hale；造型：Marcus Correa；迪伦理发：Chris Nopy；斯蒂芬发型：Gidget Daniels，理发：Justin Lovingood；妆发：Hee Soo Kwon，使用Davines及La Mer产品；服装修改：Yelena Travkina、Zoya Milentyeva；制作：Lyric Productions的Cynthia Hadden。
本文的另一版本最初刊登于《GQ》2026年10月刊，标题为《马刺会回来的两大理由》。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：Can the NBA’s New Dynamic Duo Get the Spurs to the Promised Land?
Can the NBA’s New Dynamic Duo Get the Spurs to the Promised Land?
Young guards Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper took San Antonio all the way to the NBA Finals this year (with a little help from Victor Wembanyama). Can they overcome the memory of a crushing home-court defeat—and a hex thrown at them by Jay-Z—to make good on their limitless potential?
By Cam Wolf / Photography by Gem Hale / September 28, 2026
Before Jay-Z, everything seemed to be turning around. The San Antonio Spurs were down two games in the NBA Finals to the New York Knicks, but they’d surged to an early lead in Game 3. It was the first Finals game played at Madison Square Garden in 27 years, and the young Spurs guards Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle showed up that night anticipating a much more bloodthirsty crowd than the one they found waiting for them. “It was underwhelming in that first game,” Castle recalls. “They made it seem like it was going to be way crazier in there.”
At times during the previous series against the Thunder, Castle says, “OKC was way louder than MSG.” He and his Spurs weren’t expected to escape that series. But the team—the second-youngest ever to reach the NBA Finals, after the ’77 Trail Blazers—was already an anomaly before it defied expectations against Oklahoma City and attempted to make history against New York. NBA players typically don’t reach their peak until their late 20s, but the Spurs were led by 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama, built like a teenage Groot and just as lethal; Castle, who is 21; and Harper, a 20-year-old rookie still acclimating to playing big minutes.
On Harper : Jacket by Dolce & Gabbana. Shirt by Bottega Veneta. Pants (throughout) by Amiri. Sunglasses by Ahlem. Watch and necklace by Cartier. Ring (throughout) by David Yurman. On Castle : Jacket by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Sweater and belt by Brunello Cucinelli. Sunglasses by Montblanc. Watch by Cartier. Ring (throughout) by David Yurman.
After finishing the previous season with a losing record, they became a championship contender at near-unprecedented speed. Wembanyama’s emergence as one of the best players in the world certainly helped, but even a seven-foot-four French wunderkind with a near-10-foot standing reach needs support. “Jordan doesn’t win without Pippen,” says Kirk Goldsberry, who covers the NBA for The Ringer and worked for a time as strategic-research vice president in the Spurs’ front office. “Magic doesn’t win without Kareem. Steph doesn’t win without Klay and Draymond. To win the NBA championship, you have to have multiple Hall of Famers. And it looks like the Spurs have three of them.”
It’s not overstating the talent level of the Spurs’ young core to suggest they can bend the arc of the NBA’s future toward themselves, provided they can avoid the many pitfalls—salary-cap squeezes, inflated egos, physical misfortune—that can undo a promising team along the way.
But after disposing of the reigning champs and back-to-back MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City, the Spurs faced a new challenge in the Finals—a swarm of celebrities sitting courtside. During the fifth and final game, Harper ran out of the tunnel and spotted one of his favorite actors, Michael Rainey Jr., from the show Power, who’d flown out to San Antonio for the game and had made no secret of his allegiance: “Like, the whole series, he posting Knicks, Knicks, Knicks,” Harper says. “I damn near blocked him at one point.” At the game, he did the next best thing, pretending not to notice Rainey as he jogged onto the court.
Harper had tried the same tactic with Jay-Z, which worked until the rapper started to heckle him. “Come on!” Hov yelled, according to Harper. Then Jay raised his hands to form a Roc-A-Fella diamond in the air, as if casting a spell on the visiting team. “We started losing,” Harper says. “Shit went downhill from there.”
On Harper : Shirt by Wythe. T-shirt, his own. Boots by Tecovas. Watch by Cartier. On Castle : Jacket by Hermès. Shirt by Tom Ford. T-shirt by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Jeans by Wrangler. Boots by Tecovas. Necklace, his own. Bracelet (throughout) by David Yurman.
When we meet at a quiet brunch spot in Los Angeles, the ever-so-slightly older Castle—wearing a West Coast Choppers shirt, Chrome Hearts necklaces, and a distressed hat stacked atop a Chrome Hearts durag—is the first to arrive. When Harper rolls up a few minutes later in a gray Nike Nocta sweatsuit, they immediately lock into a conversational shorthand as rhythmic as their game.
“Get the braids,” Castle encourages Harper.
“Not for no photo shoot, bro,” Harper says.
“That’s when you was in your prime, bro. That’s why you was dunking shit, for real,” Castle says.
“I was dunking on n-ggas with the braids in,” Harper accepts.
Castle grew up close to Atlanta but declined to work out for the Hawks—who had the number one pick in the 2024 draft—partly to avoid getting relegated to off-ball duties alongside his hometown team’s then centerpiece Trae Young. Instead, after winning a national championship as a freshman playing for the famously merciless coach Dan Hurley at the University of Connecticut, he went fourth, to the Spurs.
Castle’s dad played with Spurs legend Tim Duncan in college at Wake Forest; Harper is the son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, who collected rings as a Bull and a Laker while setting up Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant. Harper and Castle attended basketball camps and games alongside other high-level prospects, quietly orbiting each other but never colliding, until Castle dunked on Harper during Harper’s very first day of practice with the Spurs. At another early practice, it happened again. An errant shot caromed off the rim, and he went to grab the rebound.
“I was like, I hope this bitch don’t bounce,” Harper remembers thinking. “It bounced perfectly in Steph’s hands.” Castle came flying in, grabbed the ball, and dunked on Harper. The validity of this dunk remains a point of historical contention and comes up more than once during our conversation.
“You dunked on me off a putback,” Harper says. “You counting that?” Castle just nods.
At first, Castle says, he sensed “secret animosity” from Harper, who dogged his new teammate up and down the court—“trying mad hard,” Castle adds—in practice. Harper had been drafted onto a team already stacked with talented guards; as Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson points out: “There’s a natural narrative that could be put on the situation—[a] crabs-in-the-bucket, which one of you guys is going to make it out type thing.”
But Castle saw Harper’s potential as a backcourt mate immediately; from the start of the Spurs’ training camp, he carried the bench during scrimmages. “It was never ‘We’re better with that guy versus that guy,’ ” Johnson says. “It was always them together.”
Shirt by Versace. Tank top, his own. Sunglasses by Jacques Marie Mage. Watch by Piaget.
T-shirt by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Jeans by Wrangler. Hat by Stetson. Belt by Versace. Sunglasses by Jacques Marie Mage. Necklace, his own.
The pair are boys off the court. “Unfortunately,” Castle jokes. They communicate as if they’ve been teammates for decades—sharing silent glances or chuckles, wordlessly telegraphing their responses to my questions. They are hyperaware of the fact that my recorder is running, looking at it for even the most benign answers. Who’s your favorite player? Michael Jordan, Harper says. (“My dad is, like, close with him…I feel like I’m obligated to like him.”) Who are the toughest guys you faced off against in the playoffs? The Minnesota Timberwolves’ diet version of MJ, Anthony Edwards, Castle says. Harper’s face shatters into a grin. “Scoot,” he says, shouting out the Portland Trail Blazers’ up-and-down young guard Scoot Henderson. After a minute, Harper cites Jalen Brunson and Gilgeous-Alexander as well, along with OG Anunoby. “He’s not even that hard to guard, though,” Castle notes. “He just doesn’t miss it.”
Talent in the NBA is like star power in Hollywood: When you see it, you know it unequivocally and immediately. It’s the answer that keeps coming up when I ask each person I speak with at what point they realized how special these young guards were—the only measuring stick they needed was a set of working eyes. De’Aaron Fox, the veteran Spurs point guard, says he could see it after the first game he played with the duo, against the New Orleans Pelicans. “That was the moment,” Fox says. “We already knew that we had a chance to be good, but I was like, ‘We can be really good.’ ”
The arrangement of a basketball team is as unique a thing as there is in sport—a small and delicate ecosystem, like a jazz band. It lives somewhere between sports like tennis, which hinges on a player’s individual drive, and football or hockey, which requires a submission to the homogeneous body of the team to win. The Spurs have a generational superstar in Victor Wembanyama, but if they end up making good on their abundant potential, Harper and Castle’s connection will also be part of the reason why. The power of friendship can make or undo a team—and Harper and Castle are intimately aware of how important it can be.
“We lost to fucking four best friends,” Harper says, referencing the Knicks’ core, three of whom played together in college. “I think being friends off the court makes you better,” Castle says. Harper adds, “It makes everything flow better.”
At the start of the Spurs’ last golden era, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Sean Elliott, and Malik Rose famously bonded by playing the video game StarCraft on their way to a championship win in 1999. Castle and Harper’s Spurs have forged similar traditions. After a short spell of playing cards—during which Harper lost $5,000 in about three days—the team mostly pivoted to board games curated by Wembanyama. “Vic be finding the most random games possible,” Castle begins. Harper finishes, catching the lob: “And it’ll be like 15 of us playing that shit.” (Werewolf, which is billed as “a party game for devious people,” was a big hit.)
On the road during the season, the Spurs do activities together and always make sure to celebrate a teammate’s birthday. “Remember Houston, when Vic went off?” Castle says, jogging Harper’s memory of a particularly epic night. After beating the Rockets in a late-January matchup during the slog of the season right before the All-Star break, the team went to dinner, then ended up at some after-hours spot, where Wembanyama—whom Castle describes as a goofy, “regular-ass 22-year-old”—fully let loose alongside the rest of the team, according to the two guards.
“First time ever, probably,” Harper says. “And then we lost to Charlotte the next game. We all learned our lesson.” But in a league where team chemistry can make all the difference, maybe a few regular-season wins are worth trading for boosts in camaraderie.
The history of the NBA is full of teams that peaked too early. An unexpected loss to the Houston Rockets in the ’95 Finals should have been only a speed bump for Penny Hardaway and Shaq’s Orlando Magic on the way to many titles; the Oklahoma City Thunder, blessed with three future MVPs in Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, was supposed to be booking a timeshare in the Finals even after losing to the Heat in 2012. Neither of those teams made it back.
Shirt by Dolce & Gabbana. Watch by Audemars Piguet.
Jacket by Tom Ford. Shirt by Dolce & Gabbana. Tank top by Zimmerli. Pants by Acne Studios at Mr. Porter. Boots by Savas.
But Johnson believes his team has something unique in the Castle-Harper pairing. “To have two young men, with the talent and the potential and the future that’s right ahead of them, not only complement one another and be happy for one another, but to really, truly celebrate each other’s success—I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he says.
Goldsberry goes further: “When you have three dudes who could all be First Team All-NBA, and they’re all 22 or under—I mean, who wouldn’t be confident?”
When I conjure the ghost of would-be dynasties past, Harper and Castle both assert that this Spurs team is built to withstand the forces that undid those teams. “Because we don’t have no egos. They had strong egos in that locker room. Strong-ass egos,” Castle says, referring to that star-studded 2012 Thunder squad. “That’s why we’re so good,” Harper says. “We’ve got eight people on the team that, if we all had an ego, we wouldn’t blend together.”
Harper and Castle are discussing how short this offseason has felt for the pair when a smile erupts across Harper’s face.
“I’m going to win Sixth Man of the Year this year,” he says.
“No you’re not, bro,” Castle scoffs.
The reference—to the prize awarded to the best player who comes off the bench—is surprising; only a month earlier at a press conference after the Finals, teammate Devin Vassell suggested that Harper had been frustrated with “playing time and different roles that he was in.”
“I’m going to win Sixth Man of the Year,” Harper insists.
“You’re not going to be Sixth Man,” Castle says. “Who are you going to be Sixth Man for?”
“I don’t fucking know—God?” Harper answers.
You don’t actually think you’re going to come off the bench, do you? I cut in.
“What’s the political answer here?” Harper says, looking down at my recorder again. He calibrates his voice into its cheeriest pitch: “I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do, man. If that’s come off the bench….”
He stops. “That’s crazy. Fuck no. I ain’t coming off no bench.”
“Bro, all you got to know is you going to be in the starting lineup,” Castle says, ending the discussion. “Be ready to hoop.” (Later in the conversation, Harper walks the Sixth Man thing back: “I was lying,” he says. “I had a smile on my face.”)
When I talk to Mitch Johnson in early August, I ask about the possibility that he’ll start Harper, and he answers in perfect coachspeak: “I don’t envision anybody being in the starting lineup yet,” he says, before adding, “Dylan and Steph will have very big roles.” However, he knows it’s only natural for any player in the league to be uncomfortable with anything but the biggest possible role. “I would hope that every player wants to make all the shots and to guard the best player and to play all the minutes and to score all the points and win all the games.”
Jacket by Jacquemus. Shirt by Wythe. T-shirt, his own. Pants by Amiri. Boots by Tecovas.
Fox has eagerly taken on the role of mentoring the young guards even though their ascension may come at the cost of his starting job. “I’m not worried about it at all,” the nine-year NBA vet says. “That’s not my decision to make. I go in, I control what I can control, and try to help put us in the best position to win.”
In Castle and Harper, you can see the early outlines of an all-time NBA pairing. “Even if Victor Wembanyama vanished,” Goldsberry says, “the Spurs, having these two dudes, still have one of the brightest futures in the league.”
Defining those early contours requires not just sorting out roles but also figuring out everything else that comes with being a star player in the league. The outfits, of course, have become increasingly essential. So much so that before a Finals game in New York, Harper and teammate Carter Bryant went shopping for outfits to wear to the game the next day. “We definitely went to Balenciaga, got a bunch of shit,” Harper says.
Despite playing until mid-June in the Finals, the two have already filled their calendars back up with basketball activities. Harper says it took his body weeks to feel normal again after the long playoff run, but lately he’s been working out, running stairs in Santa Barbara. He’ll head to Turks and Caicos this weekend with his brother—Celtics wing Ron Harper Jr.— while other teammates go to practice with Fox in Houston. In late July, they’ll travel to Paris for a Wembanyama-organized hangout that’s about as mandatory as an unofficial team event can be. “You want that max [contract extension] next year, you’ll be there,” Harper tells Castle, when the latter says he doesn’t have to attend.
Harper is already scheduled to be back in San Antonio for two weeks at the start of August. “They got you on that rookie plan,” Castle observes. Before long, training camp will ramp up. Another season, another shot for the two guards to meet their goals: to make the All-Star and All-Defensive teams, Castle says, and—they both say this nearly simultaneously—“Win a championship.”
Coat by Zegna. Shirt by Wythe. T-shirt, his own. Pants by Amiri. Boots by Tecovas. Belt by Stetson.
“I’m over it,” Harper says of the Finals. “You over it?” he turns to ask Castle.
When I ask if any moments from the series still haunt him, Harper fishes his phone out of his pocket to revisit one of the most painful beats, just to prove how over it he is: OG Anunoby’s tip-in from Game 4, which capped off a 29-point Knicks comeback, the largest in Finals history. As a fan, even a month later, watching this is like watching a character wander into the basement in a horror movie; I want to yell at him to stop.
As the Knicks dug their way out of the hole, Harper and Castle could feel the floor of Madison Square Garden quaking underneath their feet. “That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena,” Harper says, scrubbing through an Instagram clip. He eventually finds the angle he’s looking for and points to his reaction under the basket, the O of his mouth growing in slow motion.
On Harper : Jacket by Amiri. Shirt by Dolce & Gabbana. Bolo tie by Montana Silversmiths. Belt by Boot Star. Watch by Piaget.
“That shit is hilarious,” Harper says.
“No,” Castle says, turning away, “I don’t be watching that shit, bro.”
“I got to watch it, bro. It happened,” Harper says.
It took Harper several weeks to wash the taste of the Finals loss out of his mouth, but it got easier when he restarted his workouts. “It helps me work out harder,” he says.
Every great team in NBA history has painful playoff series on their résumés; it’s a credit to this Spurs squad that theirs just happened to come in the Finals. Castle and Harper have put the loss behind them—“Just for the offseason, I’m over it,” Harper says—but they’re trying to take the necessary lessons from it, too. “I don’t think it’s like, ‘Oh shit, we made it there, it’s easy,’ ” Harper says. “It’s more that we understand what goes into [making] it. Now, we got to do it.”
I ask them to project out over the next five years. How many Finals appearances do they envision? “Hopefully five,” Harper says. “I mean, that’s the goal.”
Castle finishes his backcourt partner’s thought one more time: “We finna go back.”
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photography by Gem Hale
Styling by Marcus Correa
For Dylan: Barbering by Chris Nopy
For Stephon: Hair by Gidget Daniels; barbering by Justin Lovingood
Grooming by Hee Soo Kwon using Davines and La Mer.
Tailoring by Yelena Travkina and Zoya Milentyeva
Production by Cynthia Hadden at Lyric Productions
A version of this story originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of GQ with the title “Two Big Reasons the Spurs Will Be Back.”
By Cam Wolf / GQ
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