About 60 minutes before tipoff Monday, Dylan Harper learned he was starting in place of injured De'Aaron Fox. By the end of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the rookie had helped carry the San Antonio Spurs to a 122-115 double-overtime victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Harper played 47 minutes and finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists. He became the second rookie since steals were first recorded in 1973-74 to post at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a playoff game, joining Magic Johnson in 1980. In conference finals play over the past 46 seasons, only three players have put up those numbers: Julius Erving, Larry Bird and Harper.
The performance fit the kind of rise the Spurs imagined when they moved up from the projected No. 8 pick to take Harper with the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He was known for his offense at Rutgers, and San Antonio expected a limited regular-season role on a deep team built for a playoff push. Instead, Harper has kept forcing his way into the center of the series. He had 27 points and 10 rebounds against the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 3 of the first round, then took the starting job Monday and delivered the biggest game of his young career.
Stephon Castle also kept the Spurs moving. The 21-year-old had 17 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in Game 1 after scoring 32 points against Portland in the first round and 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in Game 6 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals. Together, Harper and Castle are turning San Antonio’s playoff run into a showcase for a group that was unusually young even before this latest leap; the starting lineup Monday had an average age of 22 years, 346 days.
That youth showed up in the way Harper played. Devin Vassell marveled at his drives in transition, saying, “Bro, I don’t understand. You’re going on fastbreaks one-on-three and laying it up like nobody’s in front of you,” and adding that “the way he’s able to get to the paint and finish, I haven’t seen it like that before. He’s going to keep growing. He’s just going to keep getting better.” Harper said before the game he would “treat it like every other game” and go in with “the mindset of just being me.”
He turned 20 on March 2, but his playoff numbers already stand out beyond his age. Eleven rookies played more minutes than Harper during the regular season, and eight rookies scored more points. In the playoffs, only one rookie has played more minutes than he has, and no rookie has scored more points. VJ Edgecombe’s season is over, which narrows the field even further. For San Antonio, the immediate question is no longer whether Harper belongs in the moment. It is how far a team this young can go with him helping to steer it.
