San Antonio Spurs rookie Dylan Harper believes the 2025 NBA draft class “love to compete” after he went toe-to-toe with New Orleans Pelicans’ Derik Queen.

The Spurs defeated the Pelicans 135-132 at the Smoothie King Center, with Harper scoring the go-ahead points with 9.1 seconds remaining in the final quarter.

Harper, who was the number two draft pick in 2025, scored 22 points off the bench while also contributing with six assists and three rebounds.

Queen, on the other hand, registered 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks in the narrow defeat for the Pelicans.

Harper revealed that he was short of confidence at the start of the season, but was helped by his experiences before being drafted by the Spurs.

“At the beginning of the year I was a little iffy, a little hesitant, like, 'Yeah, I'm the new guy. I'm trying to figure it out,'” said Harper.

“But as the season kept going, my teammates and coaches just encouraged me to be me. Plays like that just show that I'm going to attack the rim no matter what.

Harper moving smooth 

 @FanDuelSN_SW pic.twitter.com/gZgNR5HrIx

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 9, 2025

“I think all of us [in the 2025 draft class] played up growing up. No matter what, if it was open gym or going to camp together, we wanted to compete against each other.

“Every All-American game was competitive. Then, when the cameras are not on and nobody's around, you're playing with older guys all the time. We had NBA runs. We had college runs. We love to compete.”

Since blocks began being tracked in 1973-74, Queen is the first rookie to record a 30-point triple-double with four blocks.

He is also just the fifth rookie this century to tally any 30-point triple-double after Stephen Curry (2010), Blake Griffin (twice in 2011), Luka Doncic (2019) and Austin Reaves (2022).

Queen was pleased for Harper despite ending up on the losing end, believing they both showcased the strength of their draft class.

“I'm happy for him,” Queen said of Harper. “[I] played against him in college, knew him growing up, played against him in middle school.

“I'm just looking forward to more battles against him. I think I was on Twitter or something. Somebody said the next [draft] class is going to be better than us or something like that.”