What to expect from Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant in Las Vegas

Harper will make his debut on Saturday against the Mavs.

The NBA Summer League can be a chaotic experience. It can be more akin to watching an expansion G League team’s very first preseason game with an entirely new roster than an actual NBA game, but there can also be some wildly anticipated games, like Victor Wembanyama’s debut in 2023 and Cooper Flagg’s tonight.

For the most part, the higher draft picks just play in a game or two but otherwise have nothing to prove and are usually shut down to avoid unnecessary injury so teams can focus on the more unknown players. And sometimes, they can be exciting too! Just look at some gems the Spurs have uncovered over the years, like Gary Neal, Jonathon Simmons, and possibly a new one to come in this year’s California Classic breakout player David Jones-Garcia.

While Spurs fans got a glimpse of 14th overall pick Carter Bryant in San Francisco, the more anticipated Las Vegas Summer League begins tonight. Second overall pick Dylan Harper is not expected to play for the Spurs tonight, but he is expected to make his debut on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks. Assuming Flagg plays, that will be one of those games that you just “embrace the chaos” of Summer League and have fun while keeping in mind not to take the highs and lows too seriously.

With all that in mind, here is what The Ringer has to say about the Spurs in its Summer League preview:

Do the Spurs have their final core pieces in place?

The Spurs already have a few summer league games under their belt at the California Classic, but they opted to save Dylan Harper’s pro debut for Las Vegas, out of an abundance of caution following what the team deemed a minor groin injury. How much that will impact Harper’s workload is still up in the air, but any opportunity to take in Harper’s immense talent firsthand will be welcome. If Flagg was in a tier of his own in the 2025 draft, so was Harper just below him. And if Victor Wembanyama is San Antonio’s evolutionary Tim Duncan, Harper might just be its next Manu Ginóbili.

Harper’s run-jump explosiveness is unremarkable, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle. The biomechanics experts at P3 graded Harper’s deceleration and lateral force production at levels comparable to those of James Harden and Luka Doncic. Some of the most tantalizing gifts at Harper’s disposal are his preternatural body control, footwork, and stop-start suddenness. He’s an exceptional driver who can split a double out of the pick-and-roll in his sleep. What’ll be interesting to see in Vegas is how the Spurs prioritize his minutes on the floor. Do they want to give him as many on-ball reps as he can handle? Or do they want to build his comfort level playing off the ball, knowing the juggling act that awaits them with De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle later this year?

Carter Bryant, the Spurs’ other first-round selection, is perhaps Harper’s stylistic and situational inverse. The Arizona standout—like past Wildcats Richard Jefferson and Andre Iguodala—is one of the best run-jump athletes in his class. But where Harper was given monumental usage in college, Bryant played exclusively off the ball as a play finisher and a role-agnostic defensive menace. If that’s all he projects to be, that’s still an integral part of building a team around Wembanyama. But the Spurs know a thing or two about building beyond the base of a 3-and-D archetype. If Bryant has any juice on the ball that was kept hidden at Arizona, we’ll know fairly quickly.

Speaking of Harper being the next Ginobili, he’s off to a good start by being sure to pick the legend’s brain every day:

While this won’t be Harper’s debut, the Spurs play the 76ers (also without third overall pick VJ Edgecomb) tonight at 9:00 PM CT on ESPN. His anticipated debut against the Mavs will be on Saturday at 3:00 PM CT on ESPN (you can see their entire schedule here). What are you hoping to get out of Summer League, Spurs fans?