The San Antonio Spurs spent the No. 2 pick on Dylan Harper and rode him to the NBA Finals as a rookie. The reporting this month suggests he may open his second season coming off the bench anyway.
Per The Athletic, San Antonio is expected to bring Harper back in a sixth-man role to start 2026-27, with De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle ahead of him in the backcourt. Part of the logic is rotation math and part is trade math: Fox struggled during the Finals run and is on a max contract that currently carries negative trade value, and keeping him in the starting lineup is one way to try to rebuild it. Harper, for his part, is reportedly comfortable with the arrangement as he learns to run an offense full-time, per reporting relayed by HoopsHype.
There is no alarm buried in this. Harper drew praise across the league last season for his paint finishing, point-of-attack defense and poise as a 20-year-old on the Finals stage — the reviews from scouts and executives were about trajectory, not fit. A talented young guard steering a bench unit is a familiar developmental step, and staggering the three guards lets San Antonio keep one of Fox, Castle or Harper on the floor almost the entire game.
For the longer-term picture, the plan runs through Victor Wembanyama, and the pieces around him are being arranged to keep options open. Wembanyama’s below-supermax extension was part of that; so is protecting Fox’s value rather than absorbing him as a sunk cost. Where Harper starts games matters less than the fact that the front office plainly intends to keep developing him as a cornerstone.
The first live read comes at training camp, with San Antonio opening its preseason at home Oct. 8 against Atlanta.
In fantasy terms, a bench role trims Harper’s redraft ceiling — fewer starter minutes and a lower usage floor if Fox and Castle open games — so temper the sophomore-leap expectations a notch. He remains a strong dynasty hold given the pedigree and the two-way profile, and any Fox trade would immediately lift his stock. Watch that situation closely before setting your draft board.
