2025 NBA Draft scouting report: Dylan Harper looks like an NBA PG
In just his second college game, Dylan Harper looks like an NBA point guard. Brooklyn Nets’ GM Sean Marks attended Rutgers’s game against Saint Peter’s and for a good reason. The 6’6 tall Dylan Harper is one of the top prospects in a loaded 2025 draft as a gigantic, two-way initiator guard.
Through his first two college games, Harper’s dominance in high school has smoothly transitioned to the NCAA level. He tallied 24 points (8/18, 58% true shooting), one assist, three turnovers and six boards on Friday, controlling the game on both ends.
Dylan Harper is a passing savant
Harper’s assist numbers tell almost none of the story on his playmaking. That was the case in his first game, where Harper finished with four assists despite tossing some mindbending passes. His vision, patience and creativity remind me of high-level NBA initiators.
That fact is evident on the first play of the game. Saint Peter’s hedges Harper hard. In his second Rutgers game, defenses are already selling out to stop him. When defenses pressure Harper, he calmly picks them apart. Harper simply hits the popping big here, who can’t knock down the open shot:
His explosive downhill driving, which marks Harper as a strong scoring prospect, also opens up passing windows. The sheer force Harper drives with forces hard rotations and extra bodies, which he’ll punish with the pass. He easily cracks the middle of the defense here, kicking to a wide-open corner on a slightly inaccurate pass:
On Friday, Harper’s teammates couldn’t hit their shots. Rutgers shot 3/16 from three on the whole. Yet Harper’s intelligence still impressed with basic passes like the ones above. He will still turn the ball over, understandably so given his on-ball load.
Dylan Harper's scoring is a potent weapon
Harper harbored an enormous 37.2% usage rate and some of those possessions will inevitably fail:
Despite that immense usage, He’s a more willing screener and cutter than many high-level guard prospects. Harper’s willingness to cut hard as a freelancer and on designed plays helps him add value without the ball. After setting the off-ball screen, Harper notices the open space and slips to the basket unimpeded:
Without the passing production, Harper flexed his very literal muscles as a scorer. Saint Peter’s has a quality team, but none of their players can match Harper’s physicality and athleticism. He dominated this competition, making basketball look painfully easy. We’ll need to see this continue against Big 10 competition, but elite prospects should eviscerate lower-level teams.
This post-up was the most extreme example of this, with the defender fronting Harper in the post. Harper snares the pass, gathers the ball and scores despite three Saint Peter’s defenders converging on him:
Harper’s ability to create easy paint touches will contribute to his ultimate on-ball ceiling. In the past, Harper hadn’t consistently burned defenders off of the dribble with his burst and explosion. But against his first college opponents, Harper’s easy buckets off of the dribble have come plentifully.
It looks like everyone is moving at a slower speed than Harper on the drive. He burns the whole defense straight to the hoop with the help of the screens:
Watching Harper plant his back foot and explode past defenders, blurring to the hoop is encouraging. He does it again late in the game; none of the help defenders on the court could even come close to slowing him from finishing at the rim:
Harper explodes powerfully off his two feet where he can balance himself and read the defense. He covers so much ground on these hop steps, drawing a foul in the process on this next drive:
And Harper was a foul-drawing machine, sinking seven of his eight free-throw attempts. Through two games, he’s putting up an impressive 45.2 free-throw rate. Harper can’t win with a burst on this drive, but his leverage and strength make it difficult not to foul him to stop him from getting to the rim:
What are Dylan Harper's weaknesses?
Harper wins easily off of the dribble in this next clip, attacking decisively off of the catch. He’s not the most explosive vertical athlete, limiting Harper’s finishing options, especially off of one foot. Instead of finishing on the right side of the rim, Harper throws up a prayer that misses badly:
The three-pointers aren’t falling yet (1/6), but Harper’s willingness to attempt tough jumpers indicates positive shooting growth. He’s confidently firing pull-up triples, hitting this jumper when the defense provides some airspace:
Even missed threes can tell us about a player. Harper misses this end-of-half triple long here; his shot looks flat at times. Still, his footwork and set up into the shot were smooth:
It was a quiet defensive game for Harper, forcing zero turnovers without a ton of involvement on that end. Saint Peter’s simply didn’t target him much. That makes sense given Harper’s overwhelming physicality at the point of attack. Look at Harper fly around on this possession:
His strength allows Harper to rip through weak ball screens. He’s a bit vulnerable to quick changes of direction, but Harper covers this pull-up attempt well:
Their offense didn’t want to shoot against Harper for many of their drives. He forced plenty of pass-outs on these drives, forcing offensive stagnation:
Through two games, Dylan Harper has played like a clear top-three pick in the loaded 2025 NBA Draft. In many classes, we’d be discussing him as the potential number-one overall pick. That’s unlikely in a class with Cooper Flagg, but Harper is an elite prospect and should be one of the best college basketball players in the nation.