Wildcats' Carter Bryant Looking Forward To Playing With Fellow Rookie

Former University of Alabama Wildcats star Carter Bryant was selected in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night.

When he gets to the Lonestar State he gets to play with someone he has wanted to play with since his days in high school. He gets to play with his "draft buddy."

His name is not Victor Wembanyama. His name is not De'Aaron Fox. He is looking forward, most of all, to playing with fellow first-round selection Dylan Harper who hooped it up at Rutgers.

"I'm looking forward to playing with my guy D. Harp," he said. "I mean, it's been a long time coming. We had a lot of conversations throughout high school, whether I was trying to play together in college, just maybe playing together at some point, so for him to be my draft buddy and being able to both go in the lottery and be able to represent San Antonio is dope."

Ron Harper, who played in the NFL for 15 seasons and won five NBA titles, has been a mentor to Bryant for years and Bryant has a wonderful relationship with the Harper family.

Bryant will have his first opportunity to play with Harper in the Las Vegas Summer League which starts on July 10.

Bryant compares himself to a former Spurs sensation. If he can live up to the comparison, the Spurs hit it out of the park.

"The first guy I think of is Kawhi, just his defensive versatility, being able to guard multiple positions early on in his career, and just as you saw his progression, he became one of the best players in the world," Bryant said.

Bryant is the first Arizona basketball player to be drafted by San Antonio since Marcus Williams was drafted in the second round in 2007. San Antonio also drafted Sean Elliott with the third overall selection in 1989. Elliott had a great career in the NBA, which was cut short by physical illness.

Bryant is the 27th player in Wildcats history to be drafted in the first round. He is the first since Bennedict Mathurin and Dalen Terry in 2022.

The NBA instituted the lottery system in 1985. Since then, Arizona had 17 lottery picks, including Bryant.

As expected, Caleb Love was not drafted Thursday night. After the draft ended, he agreed to a two-way contract with the Portland Trail Blazers and will more than likely play on their summer league team in Las Vegas. The summer league starts July 10.

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