In most NBA Drafts, Dylan Harper would have gone first overall. However, the 2025 draft was not like most classes. Cooper Flagg, coming out of Duke, was touted as a generational prospect. Even on a putrid Dallas Mavericks team, he managed to live up to the hype, easily winning Rookie of the Year.

Harper, meanwhile, came in fourth, lagging behind Kon Knueppel and VJ Edgecombe. Both Knueppel and Edgecombe got the benefit of playing a bigger role than Harper was ever offered. Even with his fourth-place finish, he's expected to go down as easily the second-best player in his draft class.

To end his rookie season, however, Harper started to put things together faster than nearly any other one-and-done point guard ever has. While Flagg is still the best player picked in 2025, the San Antonio Spurs' second-overall pick is closing the gap.

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On defense, Harper is already a very, very good young player. Flagg, however, was touted as a combination of Scottie Pippen and Kevin Garnett. That's not exactly a battle Harper can win.

Flagg spent his rookie season mostly running point for the Dallas Mavericks, adding to his already impressive offensive arsenal. While he's a true forward in every sense, the now-fired Jason Kidd ensured that he has the skills to be a secondary facilitator.

However, he shot only 29.5 percent from the 3-point range. Harper was at 34.3 percent in the regular season, hardly elite, but improved significantly as the season went on. In the final 20 games of the regular season, he made 53.6 percent of his shots from distance. In the playoffs, he fell back to Earth, but if he can be an above-average shooter with his downhill abilities, then the sky is the limit.

Flagg is expected to be an All-Defensive MVP candidate once he hits his prime. Harper, meanwhile, will always play second fiddle to Victor Wembanyama, although he should have some All-NBA nods in his career. 

Think back to the 2003 NBA Draft. LeBron James was pretty easily the top pick, but the careers of Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh were all excellent in their own right.

Harper might never pass Flagg. In fact, it would be surprising if he did. But as the Spurs improve faster than the Mavericks and Harper is offered a bigger and bigger role, it should be safe to say that the Spurs lucked into a core piece to build around, not with.