Rutgers University freshman point guard Dylan Harper has the complete package at his position: a mid-range game, ability to get to the basket with ease and a consistent three-point shot. The former Don Bosco Prep High School alum also has court vision that causes hell for players on the opposing team. Averaging 18.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 19 appearances this season for the Scarlet Knights has caught the attention of Los Angeles Lakers megastar LeBron James.
“I’ve been watching him for quite a while,” LeBron James told me Monday night following LA’s 112-107 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
“He calls me ‘unc and I call him nephew. I love what he’s been doing at Rutgers, but I’ve been watching him for a long time now. A special kid, a special talent. He’s going to be really good in this league, and comes from a great family. Me and Harp, his pops, go a while back. I’m excited for what he’s been doing right now at Rutgers and what he’s going to continue to do in the future.”
The son of five time NBA Champion Ron Harper, Sr, and the brother of Detroit Pistons two-way swing man, Ron Harper, Jr., Dylan Harper has had first hand experience of what it takes to be a professional athlete and in fact, those early lessons were an independent study class that he’s been enrolled in long before he walked through the doors of Rutgers-Busch Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey.
It’s A Family Affair With the Harper’s
While Dylan Harper shares that both his dad and brother are a wealth of knowledge for him, he admits that there is one more person who is part of that nucleus: his mother, Maria Harper who played college basketball at the University of New Orleans and is now an assistant coach at Don Bosco Prep.
“I think we all work collectively just to tell me to Keep grinding and stuff like that, you know,” Dylan Harper tells me.
“They give me the inside stuff of everything. My brother is probably my biggest inspiration for me because I was in those gyms with him those long mornings — early mornings and long nights of just him working out and grinding, grinding, grinding. So I mean, he’s definitely the one that I looked up to the most.”
Ron Harper’s Influence On Dylan Harper
It’s a family business in the Harper household. Dylan Harper was born five years after his father, Ron Harper, Sr. retired from NBA basketball back in 2001 as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Prior to his time in LA, Harp went toe to toe with the greatest during playing stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls.
While most will highlight that he was teammates with Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Toni Kukoc, the Dayton, Ohio native has the distinction of being the University of Miami Ohio’s all time leading scorer.
While basketball nostalgia from the 90s and 2000s is a thing especially now where many reminisce about the late great, Kobe Bryant; I queried Dylan Harper about his dad’s time in a Lakers uniform while being teammates with Bryant. Harper was as honest as ever.
“I ain’t gonna lie, I ain’t really watch,” he said with a chuckle.
“Because he was more like a vet on that team and he was getting guys together as a group from all the stories he tells me about him being a leader and veteran.”
Dylan Harper, Rutgers & The NBA
Those stories of leadership and guiding teammates via his dad are now Dylan Harper’s reality at Rutgers and beyond. A consensus top 3 pick in June’s NBA Draft, Dylan Harper has drawn comparisons to Los Angeles Clippers All-Star James Harden and Detroit Pistons rising star Cade Cunningham. The 19-year old has even been likened to a taller version of Cunningham’s Pistons teammate Jaden Ivey. What’s special about Harper is his dedication to defense. Averaging 1.1 steals per contest for the 10-10 Scarlet Knights, Harper seemingly cares more about defense than players that normally fit his profile.
While many are projecting where he’ll be in the future, Harper’s enjoying the ride at Rutgers with his teammates. “I mean, it’s been great,” he tells me,
“I mean, we had a little rough start but I think as a group, we’re very new and we’re just getting it together and we’re gonna just keep hoopin, hoopin, hoopin and we’re gonna keep believing.”
Sitting at 3-6 in the Big Ten Conference, the Scarlet Knights have had their struggles under head coach Steve Pikiell. Injuries and illness have played a big part even for Harper. After playing in the first 13 games of the season, the star guard did not participate in his team’s road loss to Indiana and was severely limited in subsequent home losses to Purdue and Wisconsin due to the flu.
More recently, Harper began to look like himself in back-to-back wins over UCLA and Nebraska, but in the first half of a road game against Penn State, he rolled his right ankle on a drive to the rim, sustaining an injury that limited him in a loss to Michigan State at Madison Square Garden. Rutgers Men’s Basketball will close the month with a game on the road tomorrow against Northwestern and will open the month at home against Michigan.
Music, Inspiration & Michael Jackson
Lastly, music keeps many athletes focused and game-ready. Dallas Mavericks star, Klay Thompson once told me that he watches Michael Jackson music videos to get him ready for games.
That reference caught Harper’s attention. “I love Michael Jackson, but I can’t,” he laughed.
“He’s my favorite artist ever but I don’t know if I could listen to him before a game.”
Harper balances life as a student athlete and music is one of his many outlets.
Million Dollar Question: What’s on your playlist sir? “It depends on the day, honestly,” shared Harper.
“I do like a lot of rap stuff like Lil’ Baby, G Herbo and stuff like that, you know? Stuff to get me going like high tempo stuff like that.”
