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Michael C. Wright
SAN ANTONIO — Count No. 2 pick Dylan Harper as the latest to learn the lesson that it’s nearly impossible to throw Victor Wembanyama a lob he can’t reach.
Making his preseason debut for the San Antonio Spurs, Harper lofted an alley-oop to Wembanyama for a two-handed jam with 44.3 seconds left in the first half Friday of San Antonio’s 134-130 victory over the Utah Jazz. Harper nodded and pointed to Wembanyama, acknowledging he might have made the play more difficult than necessary.
“I’m going to throw it a little higher,” Harper said to a smiling Wembanyama as the teammates smacked hands while walking back.
Harper’s lob to Wembanyama represented just one minor flaw in what appeared to be a near-flawless performance for the rookie in the first half. He registered a game-best plus-minus of 22 over 12½ minutes, shooting 4-of-5 for nine points with two assists. Harper tacked on an additional dime in the third quarter before checking out for good with 6:23 remaining due to a minutes restriction.
He played 18 minutes and finished with a plus-minus of 20.
“It’s just another step for him and his young career as he’s going to continue to grow,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “Obviously, he made some plays, which hopefully he’ll feel good about. But just to be able to do it in front of fans and in the bright lights, whether it was the plays that people will talk about when he scored, made a shot or made a good pass. Just to be able to go through team defense and run the floor, it is just invaluable experience.”
Harper said earlier in the day at shootaround that he would feel first-game jitters in his preseason debut. But he shook them off quickly. Harper flicked alley-oops to Wembanyama and Luke Kornet for his first two assists. Harper was active on defense too, defending players full court throughout most of his minutes.
“It is good to be on the court with him,” Wembanyama said. “He looks ready, very comfortable already throwing these kinds of passes. So I’m very confident and I’m very happy to be able to spend some time on the court with him.”
Harper scored his first bucket 10 seconds after checking into the action with 6:12 left in the opening quarter by running past his defender on a cut to the basket for a layup off an assist from Harrison Barnes. Harper zipped by former Rutgers teammate and No. 5 pick Ace Bailey for his next basket.
“Just being back out on the court with them guys, just getting the chemistry going before the season starts, it just felt good to play again,” Harper said. “My teammates do a great job of empowering me, and they’re going to let me know what I do wrong. But ultimately, they’re here to help me out and I’m here to help them out. Just having that confidence behind me is very helpful.”
Harper sat out the Spurs’ first two preseason games as a precautionary measure after undergoing surgery in September to repair a partially torn collateral ligament in his left thumb. Wearing a splint on the injured thumb, Harper participated in many of the club’s training camp workouts.
But Spurs officials wanted to limit the 19-year-old’s exposure to contact.
Harper emerged from his first preseason action unscathed physically but admitted he must “flip [my] brain” in gauging how to accurately hit his new 7-foot-4 teammate on alley-oop passes.
“I should’ve [thrown] higher, a lot higher,” Harper said. “It’s weird. Ain’t no one ever played with someone that tall. You get out there. You throw it up, and you think you threw it too high. But then he catches it and you’re like, ‘It’s a little too low.’ So just little things like that. Just throw where no one else can get it but him.”