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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Twenty-year-old Dylan Harper was in the San Antonio Spurs’ training room getting treatment before Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals Monday when a lineup scratch about 60 minutes before tipoff dramatically changed his role.

    Instead of coming off the bench as usual, the rookie suddenly had to prepare to make his first career playoff start on the road against the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

    “[De’Aaron] Fox walked up to me and said, ‘I’m not playing,’” Harper told Andscape after the Spurs’ 122-115 double-overtime win over the Thunder. “I was like, ‘Oh, I assume I am starting now.’ That was kind of the biggest thing. It wasn’t a shocked feeling. It was more like, how do I set the tone for the game?”

    Fox missed Game 1 with a right ankle sprain, but sources told Andscape he is hopeful he can play in Game 2 tonight. With Fox out, Harper made his fifth start of the season and became the Spurs’ youngest playoff starter (20 years, 77 days) since Tony Parker’s playoff debut at age 19 on April 20, 2002.

    Harper more than filled Fox’s void, posting 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a franchise playoff record seven steals in the win.

    In doing so, he became the youngest player in NBA history with a 20-plus, 10-rebound performance in a conference finals game, according to statitudes, a record previously held by Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson. With Harper (20), Stephon Castle (21), Julian Champagnie (24), Victor Wembanyama (22) and Devin Vassell (25), the Spurs had the youngest starting five in NBA conference finals history.

    “When I’m on the court, it’s all business. I’m just trying to prove to the world and to me that I belong,” Harper said.

    Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson, speaking to the media after Game 1, said of Harper: “I thought he was phenomenal. I thought he was even better defensively. It’s been rewarding as someone who has supported him this year.”

    Dylan Harper celebrates with Victor Wembanyama
    San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (right) celebrates with forward/center Victor Wembanyama (left). “When I’m on the court, it’s all business,” Harper said. “I’m just trying to prove to the world and to me that I belong.”

    EPA/GERALD LEONG SHUTTERSTOCK OUT

    The Spurs drafted Harper out of Rutgers University with the second pick of the 2025 NBA draft, after the Dallas Mavericks selected Cooper Flagg. Unlike Flagg, who started and played big minutes for a rebuilding franchise this year, Harper didn’t get the typical rookie treatment for a high pick, instead coming off the bench for a title hopeful.

    Harper averaged 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds while starting four of the 69 games he played during the regular season. Meanwhile, Flagg, Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel and Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe finished 1-2-3 in the 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year balloting, with each averaging more than 15 points per game this season.

    While Flagg, Knueppel and Edgecombe owned the media spotlight during the regular season, Harper told Andscape in April that he had the best chance of those rookies to get his shine in the postseason. Flagg and Knueppel’s teams didn’t make the NBA playoffs, while Edgecombe and Philadelphia exited in the second round.

    Harper is still playing and making history in the conference finals with the 62-win Spurs.

    “It has been very rewarding for someone that has tried to support him through this year and help him in terms of coaching him and giving him guidance of just trusting us,” Johnson said of Harper. “He was this good eight months ago. But we wanted him to get some corporate knowledge, learn the program and get some fundamentals of this league and how tough it was, to get in better shape.

    “He watched a lot of guys, in terms of his rookie class, put up bigger numbers. There was a lot of talk around that, and they deserved that, because they had big years, but that young man is everything that everyone is seeing right now.”

    Harper previously told Andscape that Fox has been “special” to him, mentoring him since his arrival and making it clear he would not stunt the rookie’s growth.

    Harper could return to the bench in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals if Fox returns to the lineup as expected; such a move makes San Antonio deeper against the Thunder as Harper now has an extra boost of confidence after his Game 1 performance.

    Harper said Fox gave him some words of wisdom before Game 1.

    “He told me to be me. That’s the biggest thing. He’s been that person I’ve looked up to in terms of how he plays, how he moves and everything. He told me to be me out there and not take it for granted,” the 6-foot-5 shooting guard said.

    Dylan Harper dribbles the ball
    Dylan Harper is making history as a 20-year-old playing big minutes in the conference finals.

    Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images

    Harper has played well beyond his age as a rookie, but off the court, he is a bundle of energy and comedic presence who embraces his youth.

    Harper went viral for his unfiltered, wide-eyed reaction to Wembanyama throwing an elbow at Minnesota Timberwolves forward Naz Reid in a second-round playoff game earlier this month.

    As longtime Spurs vice-president of communications Tom James announced to the media that “Steph Castle” would do his postgame interview in the locker room, Harper playfully corrected James by bellowing, “It’s actually Stephon.”

    After playing no more than 33 minutes in any game during the regular season, Harper found humor in logging 47 against the Thunder on Monday.

    “I haven’t cracked 30 minutes all year,” a smiling Harper told his teammates twice.

    “There is stuff that Dylan does that you just can’t teach,” Spurs forward Harrison Barnes told Andscape. “The finishing package. The way he is able to be a point guard. To get a start today, seven steals; you just can’t teach that. But off the court, he’s a kid, one thousand percent.

    “He and [rookie forward] Carter Bryant are about the same age. And sometimes you might think Carter is the bigger brother. But I love Dylan. That is what allows him to be himself. He’s confident in who he is. He’s young. But I don’t think that his age makes him hesitant at all. He steps in the moment and embraces it.”

    Said Harper: “If I act my age [during games], Mitch is not going to like that. But I do act my age. There is a video that the NBA posted of my reactions, and that is where it does come out.”

    The post San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper ‘all business’ on court in Western Conference finals appeared first on Andscape.

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