Dylan Harper: Not Your Typical Consolation Prize
Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper might not be the first name off the board in the 2025 NBA Draft, but his potential could change the fortune for one lucky NBA franchise.
Let me paint a picture for you.
After years of your favorite NBA team being stuck in “lottery purgatory,” you come into a new season with an upbeat perspective. “Hey, maybe this is the year things start to change…”
But let’s be honest. You’ve seen this story play out too many times.
To put it nicely, your favorite NBA team is having another tough year. A season full of hope and optimism heading into training camp has quickly turned into reality. You found yourself dreaming that this was the season your team took that next leap forward, but unfortunately, you’ve found yourself spending way too much time on Tankathon instead.
But suddenly, you start to get excited.
This is the year that there’s a potential franchise-changing piece at the top of the draft. Perhaps it’s the missing piece of the puzzle! The one thing that can start to paint a picture of a brighter future for you as a fan. Before you start to scatter through all the tape and articles on draft prospects you can find, you realize there’s one date that has become extremely crucial to your immediate future of potential happiness.
The day of the NBA Draft Lottery.
And you know it, that day comes. Despite your team’s struggles on the court, they got one thing right this year. They put on a master class when it came to tanking. Going into the lottery, your team has the most amount of ping pong balls—or the best odds to land the first overall selection.
But then… it happens. Mark Tatum finds his way onto the stage and shows your team’s logo landing the second overall pick. They quickly pan the camera to a representative from your favorite team and you can hear “hello darkness my old friend” playing in the background. This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. Things were supposed to be different this year.
Now that I’ve given too many of you a serious case of PTSD, let’s take a deep breath and hop aboard the positivity train.
We’ve seen too many draft classes over the years that seem to have an “obvious” top prize. Usually, teams that don’t land that top prize might be viewed as unlucky. But then comes a draft class that features a heck of a “consolation prize”—that draft class, as you may have guessed, is the NBA’s 2025 class.
The odds point to Duke Blue Devils freshman forward Cooper Flagg being the first overall pick. After a slow start to the year, Flagg has started to take over the college basketball world, showing why so many NBA scouts have been foaming at the mouth about Flagg’s potential when it comes to his tools translating to the next level.
But right behind Flagg is another name that has NBA teams drooling…
That player is Mr. Dylan Harper.
This isn’t your typical freshman phenom. This isn’t just a player that has the potential to run a team at an effective level. Dylan Harper has the goods to be an absolute superstar from this class. Sure, this might be a class in which everyone is pointing to Cooper Flagg as the slam-dunk prospect. But right behind Flagg is a dangerous two-way guard with serious upside.
Throughout the history of the draft, we’ve seen various narratives thrown around in the basketball world. “You can find a guard in any draft” is one that gets tossed around often. Sometimes, that same phrase is changed up with a different position. But you don’t find THIS type of guard. Not with the amount of boxes that Harper checks emphatically.
Each draft class features a guard that offers some weaponry in their immediate abilities on the court. In the eyes of the beholder, it’s what we could call a “flavor of the month.” Is your team’s coaching staff hoping to push the tempo in transition more? Well, odds are you can find a point guard who offers speed in the open floor. Perhaps your team needs that connecting piece that can get high quality looks for teammates on the court? Surely, you can find a playmaking specialist at some point as well.
But when you find a guard who can hang his hat on multiple parts of his game in order to be effective, that’s when you start to reach another stratosphere.
When you first take a look at Harper, your eyes start to play tricks on you. He’s listed at an eye-opening 6’6”, 215 pounds. Those measurements alone will get your attention for any jumbo-sized playmaker. If you haven’t watched a second of Dylan Harper, you’d probably imagine a jumbo-sized guard that just overpowers opponents with his size or positional advantage. And technically… you wouldn’t be wrong. Harper understands that, given his size, he’s always got the potential to have the upper hand if the matchup presents itself.
But until you turn on the tape, you won’t realize that this 6’6” combo guard is quick as lightning with a lethal first step and fantastic hesitations. Harper looks like a prospect that was created to star in a horror film. He gives opponents nightmares with the versatility he has on the offensive side of the ball. Pair all of that with a relentless motor and the mentality to be great, and that’s something that gets NBA front offices drooling.
2024-25 NCAA Stats (as of 2/20/25):
19.2 PTS | 4.7 REB | 4.0 AST | 1.2 STL | 0.5 BLK
47.9 FG% | 33.3 3P% | 75.0 FT%
13.6 FGA | 5.0 3PA | 6.0 FTA
24 G | 32.0 MIN
The son of former NBA veteran Ron Harper, it’s not difficult to see the competitive drive that Dylan has in his game. He’s a competitor on both sides of the court who wants the ball in his hands at the end of games. Harper came into the season with plenty of lofty expectations as one of the best incoming freshman in college basketball. We’ve seen too many other players with similar hype fail to deliver, but that hasn’t been the case with Dylan. He’s delivered—and then some.
In his first 13 games of the 2024-25 NCAA season, Harper averaged 22.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. That came with shooting splits of 52.5% from the field, 37.3% from three-point range, and 75.0% from the free throw line. A funny side note to that: if you take out Harper’s first college game, one in which he went 1-for-6 from the free throw line, his percentage jumps to almost 80%.
The buzz was cooking around Rutgers’ freshman guard in the basketball world. Many were looking at Harper as a legit candidate to be the first overall selection. But we swiftly found out just how quickly the narrative can shift in the draft world.
Harper would go on to miss a couple of games for Rutgers. He then returned to the court against Wisconsin and didn’t look himself, as he finished with zero points in just 15 minutes of action. It was later revealed that Harper had come down with the flu and was trying to battle through it. Even more shockingly, Harper reportedly lost 15 pounds from the illness.
Once that news was revealed, it was expected that Harper would most likely struggle while getting his conditioning and health back to normal. Over his next five games, he would average 11.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting just 37.0% from the field and 25.0% from downtown. Clearly, Harper was still trying to “get right” after dealing with the illness.
Fast forward to today, and it appears as if Harper has found his groove once again. He put forth a familiar performance against Illinois, finishing with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals in an impressive win. In his last five games, Harper is averaging 21.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 44.4% from the field and 86.8% from the charity stripe. Right back on schedule.
But enough with the numbers. Let’s dive into the tape.
SCORING
Allow me a moment to set the tone and get you on the edge of your seat.
If you haven’t seen this Dylan Harper sequence yet, I’m jealous of you. Earlier in the 2024-25 NCAA season, Mr. Harper was on what we like to call a bit of a heater. Going up against Alabama earlier this year was one of the first big “tests” for Harper to showcase his abilities against a top-tier opponent.
Harper put forth one of his best performances, showcasing his versatility all over the court. This sequence is fantastic for obvious reasons, but it shows a lot of the fun stuff that Harper has in his arsenal. For a potential floor general at 6’6”, Harper moves like a cobra ready to attack at all times. He can lull defenders to sleep before showcasing outstanding short-window explosion. Before you know it, Harper can get his momentum going in a hurry before finishing with bad intentions.
Dylan Harper switches gears like a sports car out for a drive on a sunny day. You’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised, as Harper looks to always have another gear or two in the chamber in case he needs the extra speed. His usage of hesitations and ability to change gears without losing speed make him a nightmare to deal with at his size.
What I love about these first couple of clips is that Harper showcases that change of direction and speed beautifully. Harper sees the game like a computer hacker. He’s reading lines of code on the court before any of us understand what the heck is going on. Once you react, that’s when he attacks. Even if you try to throw the kitchen sink at him, he’s an agent of chaos who can welcome the madness before he’s all of a sudden going up for an easy bucket.
Harper also understands that while he can weave in and out of hesitations, he has the recognition of the last line of defense, often finishing with either hand on opposite sides of the rim to give himself protection from eager shot blockers.
The change of pace is another thing that Harper is fantastic with. Not only can he hit you with a quick live dribble sequence to get you looking foolish, but Dylan can make you play his speed. If you start to get aggressive, he can make you slow down. If you give him too much space, he can make you pay from deep. He’s a player that will have opposing coaches in their ears constantly trying to get their guys to figure out how to deal with this monster.
The understanding of how to master both is rare for a young guard. Before you ask, yes—it will be something that will still have a steep learning curve at the next level, as is tradition with all young guards.
But the maturity in his game is what makes some plays look so easy. I mentioned it previously, but Harper knows his advantage at any time on the court. Given his size and frame, Harper is most likely going to have an advantage on his defender at any given time. Even with the NBA seeing a new wave of jumbo-sized guards, Harper has the strength to welcome those challenges. Dylan knows how to set you up as a defender. He can get you dancing to follow him. You might think you have him right where you want him, but Dylan puts his momentum and body into you, bringing you along with him on the way to the basket. Suddenly, you realize you’re right at the hoop and completely out of position with your momentum. That’s when he puts on the brakes and goes up for an easy two.
We like to call this “bully ball,” and Dylan Harper thrives at it.
Every single time I’ve caught up on Dylan Harper’s film this year, I’ve found another part of his game that gets me excited. Sometimes it’s the heavy hitting stuff, or plays that will make plenty of highlights on SportsCenter. Other times, it’s the little things that show his recognition and IQ on the court.
Harper is a magician when getting through traffic. Once he slithers past the first line of defense, you find yourself inching to the edge of your seat to see what tricks he’s about to put on display. You’ll see often with young guards that they look for any opportunity to challenge shot blockers at the rim. Harper knows that he can use his body to welcome anyone who gets in his way. But he also has the understanding to use his off hand to finish and make it even more difficult for shot blockers to get to him.
As shown in these clips, Harper does a great job of adjusting at the final second to switch hands for a crafty finish. One of my favorite things that Harper does is using the other side of the rim at times to protect himself from eager shot-blockers looking for a chasedown block. He’ll tease the ball before switching at the final second.
There’s just too many times on tape where this kid just makes you shake your head and laugh. Some guards can beat you with power and strength. They might not have the elite speed, but they can work their way to the basket and be patient enough to exploit you at the perfect time. Other guards might lean on their explosiveness and first step to beat you to the basket with their speed. There are also the handles specialists, who can get you dancing with their counters before finding that window and attacking opponents at their weakest moments.
Dylan Harper can do all three.
His reactionary speed is ridiculous. Not only is it special offensively, but it pops too with the defensive potential (more on that later). The bag continues to be deep, as Harper can hit you with an in-and-out dribble before using his balance and tight-window burst to dance his way to the basket.
I love this play on both sides of the floor from Dylan Harper. You’ll see that he battles first to get a nice stop on the defensive side of the ball. Harper then gets up the floor before getting a hit-ahead pass. Before the defense even realizes what hit them, Harper pulls up for a deep three. This is the type of player that can shift the immediate future and ceiling of an NBA organization. This isn’t just any type of guard. This one has the goods to be a two-way machine.
PLAYMAKING
Potential superstars can take over a game on any given night in a number of different ways. While some get married to the idea of a superstar being a scoring machine, there’s different ways in which you can “dominate” a game. Playmaking is one of those areas, and the freshman guard has shown this year that he can be a dime-dropping machine when he’s rolling.
Harper can do a bit of everything as a floor general. One of my favorite parts of his abilities as a distributor is his reactionary playmaking. Dylan will do everything in his power to get every possible line of defense to react to him. As you think he’s about to go up for a shot, he can throw a gorgeous dump off at the last second. It’s these type of plays above that can make you even have to rewind the clip to realize what really just happened.
It’s an understanding of realizing what scoring gravity will do not only for yourself, but for setting up teammates for easy looks. Harper can react to what the defense is presenting at the speed of light before altering his decision and ending up with a higher percentage look on offense.
Patience and poise: two things that are crucial for success for a potential lead guard at the next level. Guards always want to be able to play fast. That’s the nature of the sport of basketball. But understanding that you can also make opponents come down to your speed is an ability that the special ones thrive with.
Harper showcases his patience on a regular basis. He works multiple lines of the defense to get opponents to commit. Like a chess player eyeing the board three moves ahead, Harper’s processing speed is fantastic on the court. There’s no panic or tendency to rush. Instead, he works to get to his spots and calculates the perfect moment to look to score or create strong looks for his teammates.
Vision and anticipation? Yep, we’ve got plenty of that as well. Harper’s reaction speed is special in numerous occasions. I talked above about his ability to make impressive reads at the last possible second, but Harper also has the understanding of when an opportunity to attack is presenting itself. These couple of clips here showcase Harper keeping his head up and surveying the floor before finding his teammates for a couple of impressive finds.
Again, these are the types of plays and versatility that make him a lethal weapon on the court. It’s these types of showcases as a playmaker that can have Harper taking over a game without even scoring a point. If you try to take away his scoring, he’s completely fine with it. But he’s going to be able to dissect you and pick you apart with his passing arsenal.
DEFENSE
As mentioned before, Dylan is the son of former NBA great Ron Harper. Personally, I’m a sucker for prospects with NBA bloodlines. I’m especially weak when those bloodlines involve a notoriously awesome defensive player in the history of the NBA. Dylan has shown plenty of instances, going back to his high school days, of being an absolute force on the defensive side of the ball.
There’s still plenty of upside left on this side of the ball, and it’s an area I believe will be fully untapped at the next level. But there’s already a foundation of special—and flat out scary—tools.
Harper’s defensive reaction time is the stuff of freaks. The first clip is one you have to slow down to really appreciate. Harper reads the eyes of the passer before exploding out of a cannon to jump the passing lane. One half a second too slow, and he could be left out to dry.
Dylan is fine with opponents trying to work their way into him physically. He honestly welcomes it. That’s what happens with a player of his size. He knows that if you try to go toe-to-toe with him offensively, he will take those odds.
But what’s even more fascinating is how quickly he can get places in a hurry. The second and third clip do a great job of showcasing the lateral quickness that Dylan has in his game defensively. He can cover ground in a hurry and showcases some awesome anticipation ability as a defender. Not only can Dylan stop your initial drive, but he can process rapidly where you want to go with the ball next before jumping that passing lane for a steal.
What I continue to love about Dylan’s defensive potential is his upside off the ball. There’s some calculated wizardry to his game when it comes to his ability to bait the opposition into making mistakes. It’s like a seasoned ball-hawking safety in the NFL who is dangling a carrot in front of a quarterback before jumping a route.
This first clip rocks. Harper will find himself in the opposite corner and you’ll quickly see that he’s put in a tough spot. Harper suddenly has to cover two players at one time, but he’s got to also position himself properly in order to be able to jump either passing lane. A sudden movement towards the big near the basket baits the ball-handler into attempting a cross-court pass to the opposite corner. Before the ball is in the air, Harper is already sprinting to the corner, knowing he timed this sell perfectly.
The following two clips show something of similar recognition as a defender. Harper analyzes the floor and reads the eyes of the ball-handler before striking at the perfect time.
It’s this type of stuff that makes Dylan Harper the complete package as a prospect. Plenty will be focusing on the “grand prize” of Cooper Flagg when it comes to the night of the 2025 NBA Draft lottery.
But Mr. Harper is not your typical consolation prize.
As a wizards fan, I'm so stoked to potentially get either him or Flagg. I love Cooper, but every time I watch film of Harper, something new pops out that just makes me shake my head in bewilderment. I just think there's no way he doesn't some day become at least an all star level guard, and the sky is truly the limit for him.
Great piece, the clips of this man.. wow. His command on the ball in some of those spin moves just looks different, so good spatially too. Really fun to read / watch, thank you!