Dylan Harper was off to a strong start to his NBA career, as he helped the Spurs to a 5-0 record by hitting the ground running alongside Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio.
With De’Aaron Fox out to start the season, Harper got a chance to show what he can do as the Spurs’ lead guard and averaged 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 50/35.7/83.3 shooting splits. That was until he exited a loss to the Suns after just 11 minutes of play with a calf strain that Shams Charania reported on Monday will cost him “multiple weeks” of action.
The positive for Harper and the Spurs is that it isn’t a more severe injury, but they’ll now need to proceed cautiously with their young budding star as a calf strain tends to require management for some time even after a player returns to the court.
That, along with Fox’s impending return to the starting lineup, will likely move Harper to the periphery of the NBA’s Rookie of the Year race. That now appears set to be a two-man battle between Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Philadelphia’s V.J. Edgecombe. At FanDuel Sportsbook, Flagg is now a -110 favorite with Edgecombe close behind at +130, with no one else inside +2000. (Harper fell to +4000 due to his injury.)
Edgecombe being second is a bit surprising in a vacuum, as he has been the unquestionable best rookie in the first two weeks of the season. Edgecombe is averaging 20.3 points, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game on 49.5/42.1/82.4 splits and has created an electric Sixers backcourt with Tyrese Maxey. He produces highlight reel plays seemingly every night and has quickly made himself a household name not only in Philadelphia, but for NBA fans around the country.
The question is whether he can keep up the red-hot shooting start (he shot 34% from three at Baylor) and how his role will change whenever Paul George returns to action. Nick Nurse will have to find the right balance between working back in one of his presumptive top stars without messing with the great chemistry Maxey and Edgecombe have created just two weeks in the…
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