Dylan Harper's workout snaps draw reactions from AJ Dybantsa, Meleek Thomas, and Tahaad Pettiford

Rutgers standout Dylan Harper is busily preparing for the 2025 NBA draft, and on Saturday, he showed on social media what his workouts look like.

In a short video, the 6-foot-6 son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper Sr did some running, shooting, strength and conditioning drills and conducted scrimmages in preparation for the draft combine. He also included photos of himself and fellow NBA draft lottery prospect Ace Bailey.

Harper's latest Instagram post drew reactions from fellow players and future draft aspirants, including AJ Dybantsa, Meleek Thomas and Tahaad Pettiford.

BYU commit Dybantsa dropped a four-word comment on the IG snaps, posting:

"Them dreams so close."

AJ Dybantsa reacts to Dylan Harper's workout snaps on Instagram (Image Source: @dylharpp/Instagram)

Thomas, who is set to play for Arkansas in the 2025-26 college basketball season, posted a two-word comment that said:

"Inspiring Dharp ❤️❤️."

Meleek Thomas' reaction to Dylan Harper's workout photos (Image Source: @dylharpp/Instagram)

Pettiford, who had an excellent freshman season with Auburn despite playing off the bench, expressed support for his NBA draft dream.

"Right here with you brudda🤞🏽."

Tahaad Pettiford comments on Dylan Harper's post on Instagram (Image Source: @dylharpp/Instagram)

Other players and sports trainers reacted to Harper's social media post. These include Michigan guard Elliot Cadeau, Maryland forward/center Derik Queen, Pepperdine guard David Mager, former NBA player Eddy Curry, his Rutgers teammates Dylan Grant and Zach Martini, and his brother Ron Harper Jr. of the Detroit Pistons.

Other reactions from players and trainers (Image Source: @dylharpp/Instagram)

Most experts see Dylan Harper as the second-best collegiate prospect in this year's NBA draft behind Duke's Cooper Flagg. He put up solid numbers of 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.4 steals per game at Rutgers last season.

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Dylan Harper compares himself to James Harden, Cade Cunningham and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Potential NBA draft lottery pick Dylan Harper considers himself a big guard in the mold of James Harden, Cade Cunningham and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The 6-foot-6 Rutgers standout disclosed the NBA players whom he likes to be compared with in a media availability session and those three came into his mind. Harper added that he classifies himself as a guard capable of attacking mismatches.

Cunningham, the 2021 No. 1 overall pick, and Harper have similar approaches on how they attack the paint. They like to go downhill and perform fearless drives thanks to their athleticism. However, Harper needs to improve on his passing ability and court awareness, as he had a 4.0-to-2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio at Rutgers.

Cunningham, on the other hand, averaged a career-high 9.1 assists for Detroit last season, but his errors went up from 3.4 in the 2023-24 season to 4.4 TOs. But still it is way above Harper's dimes-to-errors rate.

During his peak, Harden was a walking stats monster. He had career bests of 36.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 11.2 apg.

The 6-5 guard loves to attack the basket, but he can also drill those long bombs that Harper needs to work on if he wants to stay longer in the NBA.

Gilgeous-Alexander is deadly from mid-range and lately extended his shooting distance to keep his guards off balance. He was able to keep his assists high and lessen his turnovers within the 2.4 TOs/game range.

Harper can play at a similar pace to the Oklahoma City guard, but he has to pick up his free-throw shooting accuracy. Harden and Gilgeous-Alexander are excellent at drawing fouls and are almost automatic in converting the free throws.