The Spurs faced the Nuggets without Victor Wembanyama tonight and lost 118-128, even after they played most of their other key players tonight. With a little less than three minutes left in the third quarter, that decision ended up being costly as Dylan Harper got sidelined due to a left thumb injury and did not return for the rest of the game.
Harper seemed to be in pain when he subbed out and got his left thumb looked at by the Spurs’ medical team on the sidelines. His night finished with nine points, three rebounds, and one assist while shooting 2-5 from the field (40.0 FG%).
He returned to the bench in the fourth quarter while wearing a thumb spica, which was a concerning sight for the Spurs’ fans. They took to social media and expressed their opinions on the aftermath of the injury to the Spurs’ rookie.
“I need Dylan Harper to be okay.”
“Gonna need a Dylan Harper update as soon as humanly possible 😭 .”
“Tough break… Dylan Harper was cooking, and now the thumb said ‘game over’ 😬.”
Dylan Harper NO VUELVE por el resto del partido por una lesión en el pulgar izquierdo.
BUE. pic.twitter.com/ihMsUp2kR3
— SPURS LATAM (@Spurs_Latam) April 13, 2026
The Spurs also faced criticism from fans for playing their key players tonight instead of allowing them to rest like most of the other teams in the league did tonight, including their opponents, who only played Nikola Jokic for 18 minutes tonight so that he could qualify for the postseason awards, and benched every other key player.
“San Antonio made headlines, Dylan Harper got injured on them, and they’re still gonna lose to Denver’s bench players. Really incomprehensible, everything. They did everything wrong.”
“What’s the point of playing everyone in a meaningless game if you can’t attain your objective? Now you’ve got Dylan Harper hurt.”
“What exactly was the plan? We could have just rested all of our starters and taken the L. Instead, we play them, still get cooked by Denver, and then on top of that, Dylan Harper got hurt. This was poor coaching at its finest at the wrong time of the year.”
Some fans were divided over this opinion as they also argued that playing ‘meaningless’ games with intensity helps build a championship culture.
And I agree with them, especially since Harper is only 20 years old and is a rookie; therefore, he hasn’t earned the rest yet and can use such fixtures to work on his skills and improve his game. Their head coach, Mitch Johnson, was seen on the sidelines trying to rile up the rookie, even in a game where the Spurs’ future will not be affected by the result.
Mitch Johnson motioned to Dylan Harper to get going, and yelling at him to lock in.
In a meaningless game, your head coach is getting on you, this is what championship teams do. pic.twitter.com/6cUOB6uCHZ
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) April 13, 2026
But, unfortunately, Harper got injured. If he ends up missing time due to this injury, his minutes could potentially be divided between Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Jordan McLaughlin.
Harper, a key rotation player, has come off the bench in 65 games and started four games this season, where he averaged 11.8 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.4 rebounds on 50.5% shooting efficiency from the field and 34.3% from beyond the three-point line.
After the game, Johnson did not have an update on Harper’s left thumb. But the Spurs will hope that Harper takes the next week to complete his recovery in time for the playoffs. The Spurs have a week off and will begin their playoff series next Sunday at home against the winner of the Suns vs. the Blazers play-in tournament game.
