Dylan Harper is leaving the door open for a dunk contest, following in his father’s footsteps
The The NBA slam dunk contest is on the decline for some time now, while most of the league’s best players refuse to compete in the dunk exhibition. It certainly seems like the NBA has had to beg some players to come out and compete, and there have been plenty of bad events this year — from Jackson Hayes’ simple tomahawk dunk, to Jace Richardson’s hard fall, to San Antonio Spurs rookie Carter Bryant is running out of time to nail Cashad Johnson with the eccentric dance moves of a competition champion.
But it looks like a a rising star in the form of Spurs rookie Dylan Harper could bring at least some name recognition to the dunk contest. In an appearance on the Cousins podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, Harper, who appeared alongside his father and three-time NBA champion Ron and his brother, current Boston Celtics guard Ron Harper Jr. were encouraged to join the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in Phoenix in 2027.
“I could hit every one of your dunks in that contest,” Dylan told his father, referring to Ron’s performances in the 1987 and 1989 slam dunk contests. “(But) I’m not in a slam dunk contest.”
“You don’t think you’re good enough?” McGrady asked to elicit a response.
“No, I don’t think I have that many tricks,” replied the Spurs defender. “(But) we could see in a year. We could see next year.”
https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=ETFFj8ospVs
Can the Spurs guard Dylan Harper any better than his father?
In 1987, Ron Harper, still with the Cleveland Cavaliers, did a self-lob on a reverse jam and a tap on the front rim before a reverse dunk for his two jams on the night. He finished fifth in the competition.
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Two years later, he brought out a one-handed, 360 statue of liberty jam (which he made on his second try), followed by a self-lob, a high bounce off the ground, which he punctuated with an emphatic one-handed tomahawk.
https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=8MK-kgiKnRK
The Spurs guard doesn’t have too high a bar to jump given his father’s dunks.
2026-02-19 05:40:00
