The first injury news of the new season has hit for the Spurs, and it’s not even training camp yet. According to a Spurs press release, second overall pick Dylan Harper suffered a partial tear of the collateral ligament in his left thumb on Wednesday and underwent successful surgery to repair it today.
The bad news it’s his shooting hand. The good news is while he will likely miss training camp and at least some of the preseason
— which, make no mistake, is not ideal for a rookie — he is expected to return for the regular season opener on October 22 against Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks. (And, let’s face it, that match-up is likely why they are opening against their IH-35 rivals for the third season in a row.)
Off-season injuries are never ideal, but players have to practice to stay in shape. It could always be much worse, as the Thunder also just announced the rookie Thomas Sorber will miss the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL suffered in practice. Hopefully there are no more injuries between now and the start of the season, since the Spurs have seen enough of those over the last couple of years and just got Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox back themselves.
