Howard alum Bryce Harris looks to hone skills with Oklahoma City Thunder during NBA summer league

Guard Bryce Harris spent the past five years building a championship résumé at Howard that included three Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) titles and three subsequent NCAA tournament appearances.

Now Harris, the 2026 MEAC Player of the Year, is taking the next step in his basketball career. Having signed an NBA summer league contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 6-foot-4 guard is set to play with the team in Las Vegas through July 19. On Sunday, he came off the bench and scored four points in four minutes.

Although Harris went undrafted, numerous teams were interested in his skill set and versatility. He averaged 17.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game for the Bison this past season.

Harris said he worked out for about 10 franchises during the pre-draft process and admired the Thunder’s reputation for identifying talent and developing young players.

“Honestly, coming from where I’m coming from and playing at an HBCU, a lot of us get overlooked,” he said. “Whether people think it’s a talent gap, whether people think it’s a character gap, whatever the case may be, I’m happy that the Thunder was able to overlook whatever the narrative was and see me as a person, as individual, and as a basketball player, too.”

Harris is one of five players from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to participate in NBA summer league this year.

Former Tennessee State guard Aaron Nkrumah made his summer league debut with the Denver Nuggets. Former Langston guard Orlando Thomas is playing for the Detroit Pistons alongside former Florida Memorial forward Latavious Mitchell. Former Winston-Salem State guard Javonte Cooke, who made his NBA debut last season, is continuing his professional development with the Phoenix Suns during this year’s summer league.

Howard men’s basketball coach Kenneth Blakeney believes Harris’ passion for the game and commitment to improving allowed him to reach his full potential during his college career, noting that he often worked out multiple times a day.

“I don’t know how many calls I got from Howard security about Bryce being in the gym at really odd hours. It’s 12 o’clock at night and Bryce is here [in the gym],” Blakeney said. “So I think that was one of the biggest kinds of tells for him and his growth and development.

“He’s a guy who just lived in the gym. It’s just who he is and how he’s wired to always continue to work and try to really reach his goals and dreams as an NBA player.”

Andscape spoke with Harris about his summer league experience, what he hopes to showcase to NBA teams, and the lessons he learned under Blakeney at Howard.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

As a young player, how are you carving out your role on this summer league roster?

Honestly, doing whatever they need me to do. … Whatever they need for me to contribute, that’s what I’ll be able to do. I don’t want to overcomplicate anything. As the level goes higher, it’s not necessarily about the talent level. I mean, don’t get me wrong — guys are really, really talented here, but certain things kind of stay the same.

How would you describe your transition from playing in college to playing with an NBA franchise?

I feel like we have a great culture at Howard that’s very similar to OKC. You have a winning culture. Certain things that are non-negotiables, or certain things that are expected of you as a player are a lot of the same things that the Thunder expects of you as well. So honestly, coming here is like taking another step into becoming a better player.

What advice has Blakeney and Howard’s coaching staff given you for this next chapter?

Just stay mentally sharp. Make sure your competition level never drops. Make sure this communication, non-communication, whatever you’re strong at, whatever you’re good at — continue to do that at a very high level, right? Also, how can your skills, how can your talent, make people around you better? I feel like that’s a great formula for any player on any team at any level.

Leading up to the NBA draft and summer league, which areas of your game did you want to improve?

My perimeter defense. Just having an opportunity to be able to guard [positions] one through five, I feel like it’s something that’s huge that I can do. Being able to guard one through five kind of puts you into a plug-and-play situation to be able to guard full court, get ball pressure. Being physical down low in the post is something that probably makes me very versatile. It makes me a valuable player. That’s where I need to hang my hat.

Howard has had a few players play in summer league over the last few years. What is it about the program that has helped current and former players have professional success?

We kind of started at a lower level in terms of certain resources, but Blakeney has done an amazing job, and Howard has done an amazing job to give us as many resources as possible. There’s certain things that we just don’t take for granted. We try to take advantage of every opportunity a lot more than people who come from other schools, because they may have more resources or more opportunities.

Seeing other players and knowing they started out at Howard shows it’s possible. It’s possible to make it to the NBA and play in summer league from Howard. Blakeney kind of showed you the framework in terms of what that work ethic has to look like in order to do that and how to perform.

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