Dylan Harper is officially a San Antonio Spur after being selected second overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. Harper joins an exciting young Spurs team that already features the two most recent NBA Rookies of the Year: Stephon Castle (2024) and Victor Wembanyama (2023).
Harper will aim to make it three straight Rookie of the Year honors for San Antonio. If he can translate his game from Rutgers to the NBA, he’ll have a real shot at the award. But it won’t just be Harper’s on-court assets that shine, as his off-court earnings are also set to grow well beyond what he made through NIL deals in college.
Dylan Harper Set for Big Payday After Being No. 2 Pick in 2025 NBA Draft
Harper was the second player taken off the board Wednesday night behind the consensus No. 1 overall selection, Cooper Flagg, who went to the Dallas Mavericks. In most draft classes without a phenom like Flagg, Harper would likely have been the top overall selection, as the Spurs add yet another young star to a team that already has several.
With the 2nd pick of the NBA Draft, the @spurs select Dylan Harper (@dy1anharper)!
2025 #NBADraft presented by State Farm LIVE on ABC & ESPN! pic.twitter.com/03ZPuxGrLW
— NBA (@NBA) June 26, 2025
With a new start comes new responsibilities, endorsements, and opportunities amid the buzz surrounding the NBA. In the new era of college sports with NIL, players have the chance to gain experience negotiating deals and fielding opportunities before going pro — a path Harper himself followed.
Harper had NIL deals in college with several well-known brands, including Nike, Red Bull, and Fanatics. His deal with Red Bull made him the first male basketball player to receive an NIL deal from the company. He also had deals with the NIL Store, which focuses mainly on merchandise for college teams, and with Knights of the Raritan, the NIL collective for Rutgers University athletics. All of these NIL deals were reportedly worth approximately $1.7 million.
So, how do they stack up against his NBA rookie contract?
As the second overall pick in the NBA Draft, Harper will be among the top earners in his rookie class. He can make up to $12,370,200 in his first year alone, a sevenfold increase over his NIL total. Over the full four-year contract, Harper’s earning potential is $56,139,994, which is a 33-fold increase over his NIL valuation during his freshman year.
Safe to say that with the signing of Harper’s new NBA deal, he’s due for a big payday and will aim to live up to the hype both on and off the court.
