With Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant additions, Spurs continue to build their way

New York Times

20 hours ago

SAN ANTONIO — Five and a half minutes into his first official news conference as a member of the Spurs, Dylan Harper addressed the subject the team's fiercely loyal fans had been waiting to hear from the very moment San Antonio's lottery luck in May produced yet another giant leap in the draft order.
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Reminded by one questioner that a Spurs fan base spoiled by an NBA record 22 consecutive trips to postseason play had endured six straight seasons in lotto land, the 6-foot-6 combo guard from Rutgers turned oracle.
'Man, that's going to change really quick,' Harper said, repeating the assertion to emphasize his belief.
'I think our group is very exciting. There's a whole lot to look forward to. I mean, just sky's the limit for this group that we've got.'
One had to listen hard to hear those final vows through raucous cheers from several hundred fans who had managed to gain entry to the event inside the team's Victory Capital Performance Center.
More than a few NBA Draft experts have opined that Harper would have been the No. 1 pick in some recent drafts, including the 2024 draft in which the No. 4 pick, Connecticut guard Stephon Castle, would become the second Spurs player in as many seasons to become Rookie of the Year.
No player eligible for this year's draft was going ahead of Duke's Cooper Flagg, the most recent 'generational' talent to enter the Association. But Harper was as much of a lock to go No. 2 as Flagg was to be the first to shake commissioner Adam Silver's hand on draft night at Barclays Center.
This fact was also certain: There never was a chance Harper was going to any team but the Spurs.
Certainly, San Antonio general manager Brian Wright listened to offers other teams ran past him, including a few from the Phoenix Suns that offered to put Kevin Durant in silver and black. There were reportedly others from Philadelphia positing a proven shooter or two in exchange for moving down just one spot in the draft.
Wright's willingness to listen was mere professional courtesy.
When the first round concluded on Wednesday night, the Spurs GM acknowledged what anyone with a scintilla of familiarity with the team's approach to its post-big-three rebuild already knew: The Spurs remain committed to building through the draft for the long term. Short-term pain — those six seasons outside the playoffs — has been the price for ultimate success, but that may now be over for the mostly young core the Spurs now have, as Harper all but guaranteed on Saturday.
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On Wednesday, Wright and his basketball operations team took the players they believed were the very best available with their two lottery positions: Harper and Arizona forward Carter Bryant, whose availability at No. 14 in the first round seemed to Wright nearly as serendipitous as their luck on draft lottery night.
And the team's immediate future?
Sure, a trade for 36-year-old Durant, a former NBA MVP who had the Spurs at the top of his list of preferred landing spots, would have all but guaranteed a playoff run this upcoming season. But the eyes of Wright, CEO R.C. Buford, 'El Jefe' Gregg Popovich and the other members of the Spurs basketball brain trust remain focused on the long term.
'I think at this time of year, you have to go through a process, right?' Wright said. 'You have to answer the phone, but I think early on we knew kind of what we wanted to do and the potential of the player there, so we listened to things as it came in, but I think we were pretty locked in.'
Call it Wright's continuation of the Popovich-Buford way of doing business.
Step-by-step.
No shortcuts.
Always look to the future.
'I think what we've tried to do is just put one foot in front of the other,' Wright said. 'Stay head down, and hopefully we look up someday and we're right where we want to be, but not putting the cart before the horse. Of course, we've got a lot of work to do over the coming months and coming years, but our hope and goal is to be there as soon as we can be.
'We don't ever approach the draft just trying to fill a need. I think there's a lot of ways to build your team out, and the draft is the chance that you get to add someone who you think can fit long term, and so you want to take the long-term talent and you can figure the roster out in terms of immediate fit in different ways.'
Day ☝️ as a Spur!
Follow Dylan and Carter on their first night as members of the Silver and Black! 🎥: https://t.co/rCG4t9sE4g@Ticketmaster | #sponsored pic.twitter.com/jOFheKbVTZ
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 27, 2025
If it seems like the Spurs are following the model set by the recently crowned NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder — a long-term approach designed to produce a title contender for a long stretch of seasons. Remember that OKC's basketball operations guru, general manager Sam Presti, got his start in the NBA 25 years ago, running errands for Buford and Popovich as an intern in the basketball operations department. He quickly became the team's video coordinator and, by his second year in that job, Popovich had taken to calling him the team's 'boy genius,' a moniker Presti thought both inappropriate and awkward.
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But 'El Jefe' was a visionary then and remains so to this day. Presti's approach is now an NBA Finals-proven winner. That it mirrors Popovich's axiom to skip no steps and take no shortcuts is hardly a coincidence.
In Wright, Popovich and Buford may have their new genius, nearly twice as old as Presti was when Popovich gave him the nickname he despised.
Harper now has a strong chance to become a big part of what the Spurs believe will be another longtime NBA powerhouse once its young stars, almost all of them draftees, develop together.
What impressed Harper most when he visited his new team's Victory Capital Performance Center after he arrived in The Alamo City on Friday?
'I mean, for me, just really the family atmosphere, just the loyalty they bring in,' he said Saturday. 'Just how everyone's connected from an organization from 20 years to now. (On Friday) I'm working out, and I randomly see Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich and (Manu) Ginobili. That's not something you would see in any other organization. Just the family, just the loyalty and just how everyone treats each other with such respect.'
Harper shared the stage Saturday with Bryant, whom the Spurs had rated several spots higher than No. 14. Wright made a few calls of his own on Wednesday in an attempt to move up to get him but backed off deals that meant trading assets he wanted to keep.
In the end, he got the player he wanted, and he couldn't hide a wide grin as he recalled watching Bryant still available after picks 10 through 13.
Bryant will need more development than Harper, but Wright and his team of talent evaluators believe he can become one of the better 3-and-D players every NBA team covets.
They were certain he was the best player available quite a few spots ahead of spot No. 14 in the first round.
Bryant didn't guarantee a Spurs playoff run next season during his remarks on Saturday. He actually went a bit further as he took note of the youth of the team's core.
'There's so much room for growth on this team,' Bryant said. 'I think you're going to look up one day and we're going to be one of those dynasties at the top of the mountaintop.'
That is what spoiled South Texans call The Spurs Way.