San Antonio Spurs forward Carter Bryant spent his rookie season defending some of the NBA’s elite, matching up with Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and New York’s Jalen Brunson during the playoffs. His teammates back home were impressed, but Bryant himself kept his focus narrow.
“When I was hanging out with my boys, they’re like, ‘I don’t think you understand, bro. You guarded three of the world’s top-five players, top-ten players,’” Bryant said. “I didn’t really think twice about it. In my head, that’s what I’ve got to do to survive. The NBA is nasty. If you don’t do your job, you’re not going to be able to stay in this league for a long time. I’m just doing my job.”
Now entering his sophomore season, Bryant has a clear message from Spurs assistant coach Billy Donovan: be a beast on defense and on the glass. The 20-year-old, taken 14th overall in the 2025 draft, said his instructions were “just short and simple: keep doing my job.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson sees Bryant’s second year as one of growth and increased awareness. “He’s been through this now for a year, so hopefully there will be some recognition like any player in his second year of corporate knowledge and personnel around the league and what’s asked of him and how to be a little bit more connected with his teammates,” Johnson said. “When you’re a rookie, guarding in this league is ridiculously hard, so looking forward to him just growing incrementally.”
Bryant’s development was steady last season. After a slow start, he broke into the rotation and averaged 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.5 minutes over 71 games. His teammates expect him to push further this season. Forward Julian Champagnie said, “No one’s ever going to go from rookie to ‘Bron (LeBron James) in a year, but I expect him to definitely make his jump. He’s been putting a lot of work in all summer. He looks really good in workouts, so I expect Carter to do Carter things.”
De’Aaron Fox, a 10-year veteran and All-Star guard, recalled his own second-year leap. “That’s probably where I made my biggest jump, going from year one to year two,” Fox said. “You understand the NBA schedule. Obviously, he’s now played in the playoffs, just about as many games as you can play throughout a season. Physically, you know what to expect and mentally you know how to get through a season. And then obviously you start to know tendencies of players.”
Bryant emphasized the importance of a next-play mentality, a lesson he learned in the playoffs. “(Spurs assistant coach) Mike Noyes says it a lot: Have a next-play mentality,” Bryant said. “It’s understanding that those guys I’m defending are the best in the world. They’re supposed to make tough shots, so I’m just moving on to the next play, not dwelling on something I have no control over. I’m going to play defense to the best of my abilities. If they make the shot, they make the shot. That’s what they’re supposed to do. They’re getting paid $200 million, $300 million to do that. You can’t survive if you don’t have a short-term memory in this league.”
Bryant also credited Sean Sweeney, a defensive coach who spent one season with the Spurs before moving to Orlando, with helping simplify his approach. “Sweeney probably is up there as one of my favorite coaches,” Bryant said. “I got really close to him. I still have about two, three notebooks filled with all the stuff he talked to me about. We had a lot of good conversations, bad conversations, hard conversations. I’m forever grateful to coach Sweeney. He taught me a lot. I’m a guy that overthinks things at times and wants to make things more complex than they really are and he taught me how to slow down and really simplify the game.”
Bryant missed Monday’s preseason game at Utah due to a minor ankle injury suffered in the loss at Phoenix on Saturday but is expected to return Wednesday when the Spurs host the Suns.
Fellow Spurs forward Keldon Johnson sees a bright future for Bryant. “Carter has the potential to be very special in this league and play for a very long time,” Johnson said. “I feel like as long as he just trusts the process and keep developing, he’ll be really good. His work ethic, his determination, his love for the game, it shows each and every day. He puts that time, that work in, that extra film, everything like that, to make sure he’s prepared.”
Coach Mitch Johnson praised Bryant’s energy and progress through training camp. “He’s put his energy into the right spots and continued to grow as a defender and in his role offensively, how to play within our identity,” Johnson said. “He’s had a great camp.”
According to Yahoo Sports.
