For Dylan Harper and Ron Harper Jr., family All-Star weekend

Dylan Harper (Spurs) and Ron Harper Jr. (The Maine Celtics) still don’t fully grasp the magnitude of what they’re about to experience this weekend. Ron Harper’s two sons are participating in their first All-Star weekend.

Both were selected for the rising star challenge. Dylan, the second pick in the last draft, is considered one of the best players of his generation, while his older brother Ron Jr. is trying to prove his place in the NBA by going through the Celtics’ G-League team.

One-on-one fratricide in the Rising Stars Challenge semifinals

And the two Harpers came face-to-face in the Rising Stars semifinals: Dylan gave his team the win by scoring the game-winning basket…against his brother, with their father sitting in the front row!

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Ron Harper won three titles with Michael Jordan in Chicago, then joined Phil Jackson’s Lakers and won two more with Shaq and Kobe. Before joining the Bulls in 1994, he spent five seasons with the Clippers in a shooting role. This weekend, the circle is filling up.

“We are so happy to be able to experience our first All-Star Game here in Los Angeles, a city that means so much to our father.”Dylan confided after Rising Star. “Our whole family is here. It’s an honor to be here with him. It’s hard to put into words what we feel. We are very lucky.”

Ron Harper Jr. recalled the fierce one-on-one battles between the two brothers when they were younger.

“I was tough, like a big brother. Strict, with a real big brother mentality. I didn’t give him anything: he had to earn his baskets. I will never let him win in my life.”specifically says. “And when my parents were mad at me, I always told them that eventually he would do it to others. And look at him now: he’s doing it on the field.”

Big brother pride still has its limits. “If tomorrow we play one on one, without a referee, the victory is for me!” An answer that made Dylan Harper laugh, as he pushed him to clarify their last duel.

“The last time we played, we had to stop the match because he was making too many mistakes! he laughs. “So you see we’re brothers: we both have the same confidence in ourselves. And I can assure you that if we play ten one-on-ones tomorrow, I’ll beat them all.”

The Harper brothers are far from one-on-one youth, but this weekend they’re making a childhood dream come true. On the other hand, they didn’t expect to be participating in the competition on Saturday night… with their father!

Father and son associated with Shooting Stars

“That’s really something crazy!” »Dylan told us after the defeat in the Rising Star final. “There was a 0.000001% chance that something like this would happen, and the fact that it happened to our family is truly fantastic.” The Harpers do participate in the Shooting Stars competition as a family on Saturday night, but on Friday night they hadn’t yet paid much attention to how the competition worked.

“I’m not going to lie to you, we don’t even know where the targets are on the ground”Ron Harper Jr. admitted. “We haven’t trained once yet.”

The two brothers agreed on one thing, however: if their father Ron was a good shooter early in his career and despite all the titles he won, he was never known to be a shooter. How will the sons try to compensate for this lack? Dylan Harper didn’t really know if there was a silver bullet.

“I think we have training tonight (Friday) or tomorrow morning … and we’re going to need it”he said with a smile. “I’m a little worried about our father… It’s been a while since I’ve seen him shoot, so… yes, that could be a problem!”

Regardless of the score, the Harpers will always remember this first All-Star Weekend appearance, as a family, between father and son.

Comments collected in Inglewood.