5x NBA champ Ron Harper’s son Dylan Harper blames mom for missing brother’s iconic buzzer-beater, Ron Harper Jr. reacts with 2 words
Five-time NBA champion Ron Harper's two sons are both carving out their own paths in basketball. His oldest son, Ron Harper Jr., spent four playing at Rutgers making a name for himself, and now plays for the Maine Celtics in the G-League, while brother Dylan Harper has become a top draft prospect.
Dylan, following his older brother's footsteps, plays college basketball at Rutgers, and he's expected to be a top-three pick in the 2025 NBA draft. During an interview with Big Ten Men's Basketball this week, Dylan Harper talked about his family's Rutgers legacy.
He shared that he attended all of his older brother's home games — except one. The one he missed was when Ron Harper Jr. drilled a half-court buzzer-beater to beat No. 1 Purdue.
"I went to every home game basically, except for the Purdue game when he hit the game winner. That's the only game I missed. ... I had a scrimmage the day like right before, I'm like, 'Mom we got to go to the Purdue game.' She's like, 'No we could watch it on TV it's all good we'll go to the next one,' and then he did that."
Once the clip was posted online, Ron Harper Jr. shared it on his Instagram story, writing:
"The irony."
Ron Harper says son Dylan 'will make his own choice' regarding future in the NBA
The upcoming NBA draft might be known as the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. However, prospects like Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are also sparking interest.
With the NBA season underway, fans are closely watching Tankathon standings to track which teams might secure the No. 1 pick. After the Utah Jazz's first win of the season against the Chicago Bulls this week, the latest Tankathon mock has the Utah Jazz projected to have the second-best chance at landing the top pick.
One fan asked the former Chicago Bulls player on X (formerly Twitter) if he was open to the idea of his son playing for Utah, and he said:
Harper later confirmed that during his own career, he declined a trade to Utah as he didn’t want to play there. Nonetheless, he emphasized that his son Dylan Harper will ultimately decide where he wants to play:
"Dylan will make his own choice for sure."
With the NBA season in full swing, only time will tell which teams wind up in the top three of the upcoming draft.