[GQ] Dylan Harper on coming off the bench: “That’s crazy. Fuck no. I ain’t coming off no bench.”
“I’m going to win Sixth Man of the Year this year,” he says.
“No you’re not, bro,” Castle scoffs.
The reference—to the prize awarded to the best player who comes off the bench—is surprising; only a month earlier at a press conference after the Finals, teammate Devin Vassell suggested that Harper had been frustrated with “playing time and different roles that he was in.”
“I’m going to win Sixth Man of the Year,” Harper insists.
“You’re not going to be Sixth Man,” Castle says. “Who are you going to be Sixth Man for?”
“I don’t fucking know—God?” Harper answers.
You don’t actually think you’re going to come off the bench, do you? I cut in.
“What’s the political answer here?” Harper says, looking down at my recorder again. He calibrates his voice into its cheeriest pitch: “I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do, man. If that’s come off the bench….”
He stops. “That’s crazy. Fuck no. I ain’t coming off no bench.”
“Bro, all you got to know is you going to be in the starting lineup,” Castle says, ending the discussion. “Be ready to hoop.” (Later in the conversation, Harper walks the Sixth Man thing back: “I was lying,” he says. “I had a smile on my face.”)
Source: https://www.gq.com/story/spurs-duo-stephon-castle-dylan-harper-hype