Five-time NBA champion Ron Harper spent his career playing alongside some of basketball’s biggest stars, but watching his son Dylan Harper reach the NBA Finals as a rookie still left him in disbelief.
Speaking with TMZ Sports after the San Antonio Spurs’ five-game Finals loss to the New York Knicks, Ron described the unusual experience of watching a player he raised perform on the league’s biggest stage.
Dylan established himself as one of the NBA’s leading rookies after San Antonio selected him with the second overall pick in the 2025 draft. He earned All-Rookie First Team honors before increasing his production during the Spurs’ extended playoff run.
Ron expressed pride in that rapid development while joking that his son may already be making his own championship resume look less impressive.
Ron Harper Still Cannot Believe He Is Watching His Son
“Is Dylan Harper really my son?” Ron asked during the interview. “It’s really awesome and a great time to see him play.” The former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers guard said he occasionally sat inside the arena struggling to process how far Dylan had progressed.
“The experience that he has and seeing where he’s come from growing up, it’s like most of the time I sit at the game and be like, ‘That’s my son,’” Ron told TMZ Sports. “I’m shocked.” Ron expected his children to succeed, but he admitted that Dylan’s immediate NBA impact surpassed those expectations.
“You expect your kids to be good, but you don’t expect them to be overachievers,” he said. “He’s really overachieving now. He’s showing me up right now.” Ron won three championships with Michael Jordan’s Bulls and two more with the Lakers teams led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Dylan Earned All-Rookie Honors in His First Season
Dylan joined the Spurs after one season at Rutgers, where he set the school’s freshman scoring record. San Antonio selected the 6-foot-5 guard immediately after the Dallas Mavericks chose Cooper Flagg with the first pick.
He averaged 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds across 69 regular-season games while shooting 50.5% from the field. The performance earned him a place on the 2025-26 Kia NBA All-Rookie First Team.
Dylan became the third consecutive Spurs player to receive first-team rookie honors. He joined a young core featuring Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle as San Antonio returned to the playoffs and advanced through the Western Conference.
His Production Increased During the NBA Finals
Dylan averaged 18 points, 6.4 rebounds and three assists during the five-game Finals against New York. He delivered his best performance in the deciding game, finishing with 25 points, five rebounds, four assists and one block in San Antonio’s 94-90 loss. Dylan led the Spurs in scoring as the Knicks secured their first NBA championship since 1973.
Ron described the defeat as an important lesson for a young roster and coaching staff rather than a failed season. “They achieved the goal that they had this past season,” he said. “And now the goal is a little bit higher.”
Reaching the Finals also changed how opponents will approach San Antonio. Ron warned that the Spurs will no longer enter games as an overlooked developing team. “Everybody’s going to be trying to gun for them for 82 games now,” he said.
Competition Shaped the Harper Family
Ron previously said he recognized Dylan’s unusual commitment to basketball when his son was approximately 12. Dylan and his older brother, Boston Celtics player Ron Harper Jr., grew up competing against each other in basketball, video games and nearly any activity that could produce a winner.
The brothers were also coached by their mother, Maria Harper, a former Division I basketball player who later worked with both sons at Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey. “We competed in everything,” Ron told NBA.com.
“They would always compete in everything, against each other, against me. That’s how they learned how not to be scared of nothing, no situation.” Ron said he never wanted either son to recreate his career simply because they shared his name. “Don’t be me,” he recalled telling them. “Be better than what I was. Be great at it.”