SAN ANTONIO – With their second pick in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs selected Arizona small forward Carter Bryant at No. 14.
Bryant was one of four 2024-25 NCAA Division I freshmen to have at least 150 rebounds, 35 assists, 35 blocks and 35 steals. The others were Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Maryland’s Derik Queen and Georgetown’s Thomas Sorber.
A consensus four-star recruit out of high school, Carter was impressed with the Spurs organization and their history of developing players.
“I think the first thing I immediately notice is that top to bottom, they’re just run differently,” Carter said. “I think that’s something you notice immediately with that organization. They’re very clean. They get things done very quickly. They’re very precise, and they have intention behind everything they do.”
Bryant is excited to join the Spurs roster and play alongside San Antonio’s first overall pick in this year’s draft, Dylan Harper.
“I’m looking forward to playing with my guy, D (Dylan) Harp. It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “We had a lot of conversations throughout high school, whether that was trying to play together in college, just maybe playing together at some point. For him to be my draft buddy and being able to both go in the lottery and being able to represent San Antonio is dope.”
Bryant and Harper first met on the AAU circuit at a tournament when they faced off against each other. Bryant shared a story about how that game went down.
We played in the New York Rens, and I’ll never forget, he was killing us," Bryant said, in part. “I was the biggest dude on our team, so coach had me guarding the five spot. I was like, ‘Coach, I promise I can stop him.’ I remember he (Harper) walked over to the bench and said, ‘I promise you, you can’t stop me.”
Now, both Bryant and Harper are on the same team: the San Antonio Spurs.
“It’s kind of a full-circle moment for us to be on the same team,” Bryant said. “I love that dude. He’s a great dude with a great family. His father has always been great to me. Always provided me with great — I don’t even know the word I was looking for, but along with his mother. Those are great people, great family.”
Bryant is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults, or GODA. His mother, Sabrina, is a sign language interpreter. Bryant was learning how to sign before he could talk. Bringing awareness to the deaf community is near and dear to his heart, and now that he’s on the big stage of the NBA, he wants to use that platform to do even more.
“I just want to bring more attention to whatever organization I was blessed to be drafted by. Obviously, San Antonio just has a rich history of having a lot of intention behind everything they do. But I don’t think my mentality toward it changes in terms of the deaf community. It’s something that is always going to be important to me and always has been important to me.”
Bryant is definitely excited to join the Spurs and help raise awareness for the deaf community.
More Spurs-related coverage on KSAT