[SAEN] 谁将代表马刺首发出战？为何仍有两个先发席位悬而未决 ▶️

Why Dylan Harper is ready for the spotlight, and a starting job

San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle, left, and guard Dylan Harper are announced as starters before taking on the Atlanta Hawks in the preseason opener at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026.

PHOENIX — Dylan Harper spent much of his offseason running into the same guy everywhere he went.

Himself.

There he was on the cover of Slam magazine. There he was again, all dressed up on the cover of GQ alongside Spurs teammate Stephon Castle. At the rate things were going, if Good Housekeeping decided to put out a basketball issue, Harper figured to have that one covered, too.

“It’s crazy,” Harper said.

After taking the NBA by storm during a rookie season that included a starring turn in the Finals, the 20-year-old Harper is learning what comes with life in the spotlight.

Heading into his second professional season, he knows there’s no ducking it. All he can do is smile for the cameras.

“It’s not something you can hide from,” Harper said. “People around you are going to tell you. Your phone is going to tell you.”

If the Spurs’ preseason opener against Atlanta is any indication, Harper’s Q rating is about to soar higher than the Tower of Americas.

Used mostly as a reserve last season, Harper was in the starting lineup for Thursday’s 123-116 exhibition loss to the Hawks.

Coach Mitch Johnson entered the night planning to deploy Harper alongside backcourt mainstays De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, potentially showcasing the three-guard alignment that could play a significant role in the Spurs’ season.

When Fox showed up at the Frost Bank Center sore from the team’s morning workout, however, Johnson opted to keep the All-Star guard in street clothes Thursday.

The full unveiling of the Spurs’ Harper-charged backcourt could come Saturday at Phoenix.

Johnson cautioned against reading too much into his preseason lineup decisions, fully aware that such warnings rarely stop fans from doing exactly that.

“They’re still going to read into whatever they want to read into,” Johnson said.

Fair enough. But the signs are hard to miss.

Sooner rather than later, Harper is almost certainly coming to a starting lineup near you.

He was the first Spurs player introduced before Thursday’s preseason opener, drawing an ovation more befitting an NBA Finals game than an exhibition.

“Dylan’s just confident,” forward Julian Champagnie said. “He came in the league last year, turned a lot of heads. I think he’s going to continue to come out this year, do the same things better and show more.”

Selected No. 2 overall in the 2025 NBA draft, Harper arrived as the franchise’s highest-drafted player not named David Robinson, Tim Duncan or Victor Wembanyama.

He proceeded to exceed even the loftiest rookie expectations.

Harper appeared in 69 games, averaging 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 50.5%. He scored in double figures 43 times, with eight 20-point games, and earned first-team All-Rookie honors.

Harper started four contests, but none when both Fox and Castle were available.

The Spurs’ run to the Finals provided Harper with a basketball education few rookies receive.

“We were two games from the deepest marathon that he could run last year,” Johnson said, referring to the Spurs’ five-game Finals defeat against the New York Knicks. “So he’s got a better hold on it than probably almost any rookie that’s ever played.”

If Harper feels like everybody knows his name these days, it’s because more and more people do.

Before joining the Spurs, Harper was hardly a household name outside basketball circles.

His lone college season at Rutgers ended without an NCAA tournament berth. His most recognizable connection to the NBA might have been his father, five-time champion Ron Harper.

“When I got drafted, I was able to go somewhere and not get seen,” Harper said. “Now it’s different.”

So good was Harper as a rookie that it has Johnson contemplating a potentially seismic change – breaking up the starting five that carried the Spurs to last season’s Finals.

Harper made a compelling case for himself in Thursday’s exhibition opener, pouring in 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting while adding four rebounds and four assists in 19 minutes of a 123-116 loss to Atlanta.

With Harper in the mix, the Spurs’ starters helped build a 23-point lead in the second quarter. None played after halftime, giving the Hawks an opening to erase the deficit and eventually steal the victory.

The final score aside, Harper’s audition with the starting unit drew rave reviews.

“That worked out,” Victor Wembanyama said with a smile.

There will be trade-offs to the three-guard lineup Johnson intended to unveil Thursday.

For starters, Fox, Castle and Harper don’t exactly profile as a knock-down, floor-spacing trio. All three shot below the league average from 3-point range last season.

Harper’s promotion also would push 6-foot-5 Devin Vassell to power forward, leaving the Spurs undersized at that spot.

And moving Harper into the starting five would deprive the second unit of one of its primary playmakers.

If Johnson decides to stick with the Fox-Castle-Harper combination, he will have to carefully manage his rotations to ensure at least one of the three is on the floor at all times.

“We have incredible depth that will, by circumstances out of our control at times, have a lot of starting and finishing groups just like last year,” Johnson said. “We’re excited to continue to grow and get these guys on the court and build off what we’ve done in camp so far.”

Whatever role awaits him, Harper wants more.

The attention is new. The ambition isn’t.

“I am just focused on getting better, and we all have the same goal,” Harper said. “Last year ended not how we wanted it to end. My biggest thing was, how do I put my best foot forward going into this year?"

The spotlight found Harper after his rookie season. Now he aims to give it good reason to stick around.