2025 NBA Draft: Rutgers’ Dylan Harper Could Contend for Top Pick

Cooper Flagg has a tight grip as the No. 1 prospect right now, but Dylan Harper might be close behind.

Apr 1, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; McDonald's All American West guard Dylan Harper speaks during a press conference at JW Marriott Houston by The Galleria. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

For now, Duke’s Cooper Flagg has every bit of the steam as the potential No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. And it makes plenty of sense as his 6-foot-9 frame, strong two-way game and heralded USA Select Team runs have put him in another tier.

It’s going to be hard to surpass the hype Flagg has generated thus far, but if any singular prospect in the ’25 draft has a shot, it’s likely going to be Rutgers’ guard Dylan Harper.

At around 6-foot-6, Harper will be the next jumbo guard to make his way into the upper echelon of the draft. As a prospect, he checks most of the boxes in terms of what makes up a solid lead guard: great pace, feel, finishing, decision-making, strength creation and even some shot-making. And best of all, it’s all packed within his length frame.

Per NBA Draft on SI’s earlier scouting report on the Rutgers’ guard: Harper is methodical and plays at his own pace. He has a strong ability to create for himself, leveraging his size to create advantages on offense. He’s a very crafty player with the ball in his hands and has a wide variety of advanced moves he can go to when he needs to get to his spot. Contact and physicality generally don’t bother him, especially given he’s creative at drawing fouls and getting easy points at the line. He embraces that contact and uses it to his advantage well.

Harper has uncanny similariries to Detroit's Cade Cunningham, who waltzed his way to a one-and-done season with Oklahoma State, earning himself the No. 1 spot in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Harper will have an uphill battle to the No. 1 spot — especially with Flagg standing in his way — but there's a chance he could make a run at it with the Scarlet Knights.

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