The Spurs could make NBA history with a Rookie of the Year three-peat if Dylan Harper or Carter Bryant can win the award this season.
SAN ANTONIO — You’ve heard of NBA championship three-peats, but what about Rookie of the Year three-peats?
Last season, the Spurs were the first team since 2016 to have back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners.
This year, they have a real possibility of getting a three-peat on the award, something never seen before in the NBA.
Victor Wembanyama won the award for the 2023-24 season and Stephon Castle won the award for the 2024-25 season.
In the 2025 NBA Draft, the Spurs added Rutgers guard Dylan Harper with the No. 2 overall pick and Arizona forward Carter Bryant with the No. 14 overall pick. They’re two lottery picks who could contend for the crown this season.
If Harper is as good as advertised, he could have a legitimate shot at winning the award. The problem is, as of now, he’s competing with guards De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle for playing time in the backcourt.
It’s unclear how head coach Mitch Johnson will use Harper with his two other guards as of now, but many experts expect Harper to possibly have a higher ceiling than both Fox and Castle. The question is how quick that will be shown on the court.
If it’s early on in his rookie year, similar to how Castle did last year, Spurs fans could be seeing a lot of Harper on the court. If the Spurs opt for experience and play Fox and Castle more, then it might not be until year two where we really see Harper play a lot.
This is speculation of course, as it isn’t even clear whether the three-headed guard monster will even play one game together. With rumors swirling and big names being on the block, anything can happen, with some experts even saying this could be the craziest offseason ever.
In an offseason that’s already seen Kevin Durant land in Houston during the NBA Finals, nothing feels off the table for San Antonio’s evolving roster.
But as of Thursday, Harper, Fox and Castle are the Spurs backcourt core for the 2025-26 season.
Dylan Harper currently has the fourth-best odds to win the award at +1200, according to FanDuel. He trails only Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey and Tre Johnson.
Flagg enters an interesting situation in Dallas. It’s not often a No. 1 pick joins a team that has perennial all-stars like Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving.
This could either help or hurt Flagg’s odds at winning the award. He has arguably the best veterans to learn from of any rookie as Davis and Irving are both NBA champions. That could mean immediate success and maturity for Flagg.
Or he could take a backseat to Davis and Irving his rookie year, as head coach Jason Kidd could opt for experience on a team that is likely in win-now mode. That could mean Flagg puts up unexpectedly underwhelming numbers in his first campaign in Dallas.
If he does, don’t give him the “bust” label or say he’s a disappointment. He’s entering an anomaly of a situation and once Davis and Irving, both well in their 30s, hang it up Flagg will more than likely be the center of attention in Dallas.
Dylan Harper’s college teammate Ace Bailey made headlines before and during the draft after there were reports that he refused workouts from certain teams. One of those reported teams was the team that drafted him: the Utah Jazz, and he didn’t look happy when he heard he was heading to Salt Lake City.
His feelings aside, on paper it looks like he could be given the keys to the Jazz pretty early. Lauri Markkanen’s days in Utah could be numbered based on rumors, same thing with Collin Sexton.
This gives Bailey an advantage over other contenders as he’s presumably the guy in Salt Lake City.
We just have to see if he buys in and dominates, or lets his reported personal feelings get in the way. My money is on him taking advantage of his situation and put up some good numbers.
Texas’ Tre Johnson has the potential to take over the Washington Wizards as their best player since Bradley Beal.
Washington, while young and promising, lacked a go-to scorer, especially with them trading Jordan Poole away a few days prior. Johnson could be that guy based on what we saw in Austin last season.
Johnson averaged 19.9 points in his lone season wearing burnt orange last year, the most at UT since J’Covan Brown in 2012.
Johnson has the opportunity to be the best scorer in Washington since Beal, and that could be sooner rather than later.
Other players who have solid chances are Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe, New Orleans’ Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears, and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, among others.
A dark horse for many Silver & Black fans is San Antonio’s Carter Bryant, who sits at +20000, the 22nd best odds.
Bryant, who the Spurs were surprised was available at 14, has been called a steal by many fans.
“We had Carter pretty high on our boards,” Spurs general manager Brian Wright said after the draft. “And (we) actually tried to make some moves to go to get him. So to get him at 14 was a pleasant surprise for us tonight.”
“He’s super versatile. He’s a big wing that we think can guard four positions,” Wright goes on to say. “He spaces the floor well, he’s a really good athlete. I think he’s a smart young kid and I think he’s got the right character and makeup we look for.”
While the Spurs have a logjam at the wing position at the moment, don’t count out Carter from surprising people and competing with his teammate, and friend, Dylan Harper.
“I mean, one of us is gonna get it,” Bryant said after being asked if he would compete with Harper for the award. “So whether it’s one or two or whoever gets it, doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to win basketball games at a high level.”
To put it in perspective, Stephon Castle had the fifth best odds preseason last year according to DraftKings and defied them, so you never know who will catch fire and have the best rookie season.
So just how difficult is it for a team to have three Rookie of the Years in a row?
The Timberwolves had back-to-back winners in 2014-15 and 2015-16 when Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns won them respectively. That next year, the Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon won it, with no Timberwolves finishing in the top 10 in voting.
Before that, you have to go all the way back to the 70s where the Buffalo Braves had back-to-back winners when Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio won it in 1972-73 and 1973-74 respectively. No Braves were in the conversation the next year.
The two years before, the Portland Trail Blazers had back-to-back winners, kind of. Geoff Petrie co-won the award with Dave Cowens in 1970-71 while Sidney Wicks won it in 1971-72. However, in 1972-73, when McAdoo won it, Portland’s Lloyd Neal finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. Unfortunately, his 13.4 points and 11.8 rebounds a game were no match for McAdoo’s 18 points and 9.1 rebounds. Still, that’s the closest we’ve had to a three-peat.
Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld (who also won MVP that year) won it back-to-back for the Baltimore Bullets in 1966-67 and 1967-68. The problem is that next year nobody was coming close to Lew Alcindor — now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — in Milwaukee.
So yes, it is difficult to three-peat. Other than Most Improved Player, it may be the most difficult award to three-peat in.
So let’s see if Dylan Harper, or Carter Bryant, can make NBA history next season and officially build one of the most promising young cores in the league.