Spurs star Dylan Harper, heading into Year 2, already knows he's too good to come off the bench — SkimNews
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- Dylan Harper averaged 18 PPG on 57% true shooting in the NBA Finals against the Knicks as a rookie, the second-highest per-game scoring average by a rookie in Finals history behind only Magic Johnson, with 56 of those points coming in Games 4 and 5.
- Over the final three games of San Antonio's second-round win over the two-time conference finalist Timberwolves, Harper totaled 51 points and 22 rebounds on 19-of-29 shooting — all while coming off the bench.
- In his first career playoff start (Game 1 of the WCF, a double-overtime win over the defending-champion Thunder), Harper recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds, 7 steals and 6 assists in 47 minutes, then combined for 30 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists on 66% three-point shooting in Games 6 and 7 to send San Antonio to the Finals.
- The Spurs' original plan was for De'Aaron Fox to start and Harper to come off the bench until Harper was ready to take the reins — a plan built around Fox's four-year, $229 million extension that begins this season.
- In a GQ interview, Harper said sarcastically "I'm going to win Sixth Man of the Year this year," then told the reporter "F--k no. I ain't coming off no bench" — while Fox told the same outlet he's "not worried about it at all" and called the decision "not my decision to make."
- Teammate Devin Vassell said roughly a month earlier, after the Finals, that Harper had been frustrated with "playing time and different roles that he was in," per the source.
Why it matters: The Spurs now face a roster math problem: Fox is an All-Star on a max contract, Harper is clearly the better player on a rookie deal, and teammate Victor Wembanyama's $252 million extension kicks in next year — meaning the Spurs can absorb a Fox-as-luxury-sixth-man experiment for one season before the cap gets tight, with the source noting the team will "probably just trade Fox" if the arrangement sours.
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