Dylan Harper received 19 of 24 points in ESPN’s vote for the San Antonio Spurs player most likely to break out during the 2026-27 season.
Dylan Harper won ESPN's Summer Forecast vote on which San Antonio Spurs player will break out in 2026-27. He took 19 of the 24 points cast when the results ran Aug. 27.
Carter Bryant finished second in the voting with three points. Stephon Castle drew two.
Harper averaged 22.6 minutes as a rookie. Michael C. Wright wrote that the second overall pick in the 2025 draft started slowly because of a calf injury that cost him 10 games. By January, Wright wrote, Harper had hit the rookie wall.
Harper played 69 games, averaging 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. He shot 50.5% from the field, 34.3% from 3-point range, and 75.6% at the line. An All-Rookie First Team pick, he finished fourth for Rookie of the Year and 11th for Sixth Man of the Year.
During the Spurs' run to the NBA Finals, Harper averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists across 23 postseason games. His minutes rose to 26.8. He recorded 7 steals in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against Oklahoma City. The 7 steals were a San Antonio playoff single-game record. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, he scored 25 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
Harper left a loss at Phoenix in the second quarter after trying to deflect a pass near then-Suns center Nick Richards, and he started limping right away. In his first five NBA games, he averaged 14.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists.
Harper made four starts as a rookie, behind De'Aaron Fox and Castle. Devin Vassell said after Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 3 that Harper was unhappy with his playing time earlier in the season but stepped up when San Antonio needed him.
"We have a star in the making," Vassell said.
Harper said he took the remark as fuel and that it came out well. He told Bleacher Report in July that he expects to thrive in "whatever role or situation that's in front of me."
Asked by DJ Siddiqi of RG.org if starting mattered, Harper said it wouldn't change his approach to the game. "No, I feel like regardless, I'm in the NBA," Harper said. He put the size of the league at roughly 450 players.
Castle averaged 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in his second season, up from 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists as a rookie. He played 30.0 minutes per game and shot 47.1% from the field and 33.2% from 3-point range. His assist average ranked sixth in the league. In the playoffs, he averaged 18.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.1 assists, including an 11-turnover game against Oklahoma City. Wright wrote that Castle could produce a breakout season if he cuts down on turnovers.
Bryant played 71 games as a rookie, averaging 4.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 11.5 minutes, with 40.8% shooting from the field and 33.5% from 3-point range. On Jan. 9, the 14th pick played one game for the Austin Spurs, scoring 15 points, plus 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.
San Antonio finished 62-20 and second in the Western Conference. The Spurs beat Portland in five games in the first round, survived Oklahoma City in seven in the conference finals, and lost the NBA Finals to New York in five.
The Spurs will need to balance roles among their three star guards again this season. However, San Antonio is positioned to compete now, with a clean financial outlook, even as Fox enters the first season of his four-year maximum contract. Castle is playing on a near-$10 million team option for 2026-27 that San Antonio exercised in October 2025. Victor Wembanyama signed for a figure below the supermax value on his rookie extension this summer. Soon, the Spurs will be paying much more for their young players.
The front office signed Tobias Harris and re-signed Harrison Barnes in July. Jayden Quaintance was the team's lone first-round draft pick in June.
San Antonio hosts Atlanta in the preseason opener Oct. 8 at Frost Bank Center. The season starts Oct. 20 vs. Oklahoma City at 8:30 p.m. CT.
