As a consensus five-star recruit, Dylan Harper is making waves in the youth basketball scene. He committed to Rutgers last year and is looking at a bright career. While the 6’7” guard is carving up a huge name for himself, his identity as Ron Harper’s son still follows him everywhere. Since Ron Harper and Michael Jordan were teammates and shared a friendship, the Rutgers-bound Guard is often asked about MJ by his friends and teammates. During the recent Pangos All-American Game, his teammate Ian Jackson ended up trolling him about Jordan being his uncle.
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Jackson began the conversation by pointing out that Ron Harper is indeed Dylan’s father and MJ is his “uncle”. However, Dylan Harper knew that Jackson was having some fun and refused to give straight replies for the most part. Then Ian asked him if he calls Jordan his uncle. This clip by the Insta account betweenthexlines covers the exchange between Dylan Harper and his teammates.
“You don’t call him Uncle Jordan?” quipped Ian Jackson
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To which Dylan responded, “I just call him Michael Jordan cause that’s his name.” Jackson then involved other teammates in the fun and continued to tease Harper. When asked if he had met Jordan recently, the 18-year-old revealed that he has not come across Jordan for a long time.
It’s pretty clear that his teammates decided to pull Harper’s leg because they were all mic’ed up in the sidelines. Harper even admitted that Jackson is doing this because ‘he’s just bored.’
It is not surprising that MJ’s name was brought up like that in front of Ron Harper’s son. Both these players were teammates for three and a quarter seasons and won three championships together. Although Harper’s production had dwindled by the time he reached the Bulls, he remained an effective two-way option and hit clutch shots for the perennial winners.
Meanwhile, his son is following in his footsteps too. The Don Bosco Prep student has decided to continue his hooping journey with Rutgers, thus, staying close to home. The 6’7” Guard has been a top-three recruit in the Class of 2024. Considering his size as a Point Guard combined with his athleticism, Dylan does show flashes of his father Ron Harper who entered the NBA as a hard-nosed athletic guard, who could contort his body through contact and finish.
As a left-hander, Dylan is difficult to guard for most defenders and offers a lot of offensive skillset despite not being an “elite athlete” per se. He is also adept at finishing near the rim and drawing free-throw opportunities. He is an elite dribbler and can either shoot on a dime or take it to the rim with ease.
For the 2023-24 season, Harper has compiled 20+ points and 7+ rebounds per game. However, his assists tally has been underwhelming for a guard. Therefore, his passing game is a work-in-progress and he looks more like a shooting guard at this juncture. At any rate, Ian Jackson’s “Uncle Jordan” reference does make a lot of sense. After being rivals for a decade, Harper and Jordan joined forces as teammates in 1995.
The former Cavs Guard and the Bulls legend played a ton of basketball together. The two had a lot of one-on-one match-ups, both as teammates and as opponents. In a 2021 article by Basketball Network, author Matthew Dugandzic cited Ron Harper’s words about his battles against MJ, “Oh yeah, yeah. Mike, you know I gave you the business. Me and Mike played a lot of basketball. It was a great experience not only to play against him but be his teammate too.“
They had a solid hooping relationship and spent around four years together. However, all this happened almost a decade before Dylan Harper was born.
