Harper: Spurs will 'make the playoffs' in 2026

SAN ANTONIO -- As fans gathered extracurricular the Victory Capital Performance Center successful the sweltering vigor Saturday for the "Spurs Family Cookout," No. 2 wide prime Dylan Harper delivered a connection for the team's faithful longing for San Antonio to extremity its six-year playoff drought.

"That's going to alteration truly quick," Harper said astatine his introductory property conference. "We're going to marque the playoffs. I deliberation for the Spurs fans and everyone else, our radical is precise exciting. There's a batch to look guardant to. The sky's the bounds for this radical we've got."

Assigned jersey No. 2, which was past worn successful San Antonio by erstwhile Spurs Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, Harper besides expressed assurance successful his prospects for helping the franchise execute NBA history. San Antonio drafted the past 2 winners of NBA Rookie of the Year successful Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

No squad has ever produced 3 consecutive winners of the award.

"I don't deliberation I consciousness nary unit [to triumph ROY], but I decidedly privation to support that going," Harper said. "That's decidedly a extremity of mine. Probably my biggest extremity is conscionable getting amended each day, taking it time by day, measurement by step, and conscionable learning from everyone I can."

Harper eyed a trio of sources of immense NBA cognition dripping successful title pedigree connected Friday successful the mediate of 1 of his archetypal grooming sessions successful San Antonio, conscionable 2 days aft the Spurs landed him with a top-four prime successful their 3rd consecutive draft.

"I'm moving out, and I randomly spot Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich and Manu Ginobili," Harper said. "That's not thing you'll spot successful immoderate different organization. Growing up, this is 1 of the teams you ever wanted to play for. Seeing their dynasty, [you] conscionable support wanting to physique connected those banners and privation to adhd a fewer more."

Fellow first-rounder Carter Bryant, drafted No. 14 overall, is expected to help. An athletic, 3-and-D guardant retired of Arizona, Bryant has known Harper since their sophomore twelvemonth successful precocious school, erstwhile they faced disconnected connected the EYBL circuit.

While Harper volition beryllium the archetypal Spur to deterioration No. 2 successful San Antonio since Leonard's departure, Bryant's uncle, D'Cean, coached Leonard successful precocious schoolhouse arsenic an adjunct astatine Martin Luther King High School successful Riverside, California.

"I don't cognize excessively overmuch astir the city, but [the Spurs] ran my childhood," Bryant said. "Growing up, I was a large instrumentality of Kawhi. I loved Timmy D. That was my uncle's favourite player. I conscionable loved hoops increasing up. So, everybody knew who Tony Parker, Manu, David Robinson and each those guys were. Growing up and seeing that dynasty benignant of acceptable the way for the remainder of my childhood. There were a batch of large franchises that came afterwards. But they were benignant of the commencement of it. For maine to beryllium successful the presumption to get selected by them and being capable to proceed the bequest of what those earlier maine brought is beautiful."

Harper and Bryant volition debut astatine the California Summer League connected July 5th successful San Francisco against the Miami Heat, and Harper has acceptable a extremity "to triumph each crippled we play." Although Harper oozes confidence, wide manager Brian Wright has raved astir the erstwhile Rutgers star's humility.

"I deliberation my assurance and each that comes from each the enactment I've enactment in," Harper said. "I consciousness similar I'm 1 of the hardest moving radical retired [there]. I conscionable cognize however overmuch enactment I enactment in. You've inactive got to beryllium humble due to the fact that conscionable [as] speedy arsenic you get everything, everything tin spell away."