De’Vion Harmon walked in with his sunglasses on.
As he walked through the SandersFit Performance Center in Dallas the past two offseasons, he would see himself alongside NBA players, MLB players, the E:60 crew covering former Baylor standout Isaiah Austin and NFL pros such as Ezekiel Elliott and Derrick Henry, providing a glimpse of perhaps his eventual future.
As Harmon got to his workout spot this summer, AJ Billings greeted him bluntly.
“Hey man, take those sunglasses off,” Harmon’s trainer and the gym’s general manager said. “What are you doing with those sunglasses on? You haven’t made it yet.”
Billings needed his pupil to humble himself. Harmon rivaled the hype of former one-and-done Trae Young and, before his first collegiate game in the 2019–20 season, called himself and former OU guard Jamal Bieniemy the “best backcourt in the country.”
Instead, the Sooner guard had an up-and-down freshman year. He averaged just over 7 points per game and went from being a top-50 nationally ranked player out of high school to being benched midway through the season.
After regaining the starting job Feb. 25 against Texas Tech, Harmon shot just 1-for-11, and had only 18 points in the final four games of the season before COVID-19 ended it prematurely.
Harmon struggled at basketball for the first time in his life. After the season’s end, Harmon listened to his father and Billings and got to work. From March to July, he refined his mental and physical game and rediscovered his confident, fiery self.
Now, kicking off his sophomore season, Harmon scored 22 and 13 points in his first two games respectively, and is tied for first in minutes played as he embraces his new role as the presumed sixth man on the roster.
Harmon humbled himself, and put aside the glitz and glamour of working alongside high-level trainers and being in the same gym as professional athletes.
From watching film and taking advice from his parents to working alongside his trainers and putting up countless shots, Harmon put in the work to make a bigger impact for the Sooners this time around.
“Make sure you be you,” Harmon’s dad, Deon Harmon, recalls Sooner legend and NBA player Buddy Hield telling Harmon. “Play the game that God blessed you with.”
Then-freshman guard De'VIon Harmon during the game against Texas Tech at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City on Feb. 25.
‘I finally got it back’
Harmon was watching film with his dad a few weeks after the 2019–20 season was cut short. Deon noticed things that were wrong with his son’s game and then they’d go fix them in the gym back home in Denton, Texas. De’Vion and his dad worked on his mid-range shots, his ability to catch and shoot, his pick-and-roll identification and his floaters.
“The biggest thing I worked on (in the offseason) was all three levels of the game,” Harmon said. “And when I went back, I didn’t have all three levels (on offense). I had a 3 (point shot) and I had going all the way to the basket. When me and my pops went back and watched film, we put in a midrange (jump shot). Now that’s bread and butter.”
Harmon’s jump shot has since been smooth, and he looks more confident with the ball in his hands, utilizing great shot selection compared to a year ago. He's second in the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 65 percent — as opposed to 36 percent from the previous season.
A couple of nice buckets from De'Vion Harmon cut TCU's lead to 42-39 at the half. pic.twitter.com/pxx6rXLZKZ
— OUHoops (@ouhoops) December 6, 2020
“He worked a ton during that four or five months,” head coach Lon Kruger said four days after the season opener. “Since last year, no one’s put more time in here than (Harmon) has in the gym. It’s great to see him get those results. We need that from him.”
Despite starting strong, Harmon is coming off the bench in a sixth-man role for the Sooners. Kruger opted to go with North Texas transfer Umoja Gibson, but Harmon has played more minutes.
Deon is familiar with the game. He led Oklahoma City’s Frederick Douglass High School to a state championship in 1990, and had a scholarship to play at Langston. He has also been developing youth players since leaving college.
During the pandemic, Harmon was refreshed by going back to his roots. Almost every day, father and son would sit down and analyze film.
“In terms of the offseason, it was really to keep him in the here and now,” Deon said. “Let’s not focus truly on the next level, let's focus right now on what you need to improve in order to be even better at the next level.”
Harmon would sometimes get ahead of himself. It was hard not to look to the future when his former teammates R.J. Hampton and Tyrese Maxey were both first-round picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, and Harmon was on the same competitive level as them just before entering college.
Harmon played with Hampton on Team USA’s 17-and-under World Cup team in 2018 while he was in high school, and was second on the team with an average of 13.1 points per game. Hampton averaged 7.5.
Averaging 12.9 points per game, Harmon competed alongside Maxey for the Nike EYBL circuit’s Houston Hoops. The No. 21 overall NBA draft pick Maxey averaged 19.5.
#PlexFinestPG'sS/O 2018 DeVion Harmon (Denton Guyer) & 2020 RJ Hampton (Little Elm) 4 Repping ThePlex at USA Trials pic.twitter.com/lz2RRfKBEF
— InsideThePlex (@DJH5Report) October 10, 2016
2019 backcourt of De'Vion Harmon and Tyrese Maxey have a had a strong showing the past 2 days. Top guards in Tx. pic.twitter.com/KxE0OgCiow
— Ani Umana (@Ani_Umana) July 16, 2016
Having won two U17 World Cup gold medals before entering college, Harmon is familiar with the spotlight. Six of the 24 players from the team are already in the NBA or a G-League affiliate.
“He's already around all of these high-profile guys,” Billings said. “He's working hard like them, but I think that he wasn't reaching his full potential because I think mentally he thought he was already there. He thought he was maybe already at a one-and-done level.”
Harmon entered OU two seasons after the departure of one-and-done lottery pick Trae Young. As a freshman, Harmon said that Sooners’ head coach Lon Kruger gave him the “keys” to the team, just like he did with Young.
According to Deon, another of Harmon’s freshman season struggles was incorporating his game into the team’s gameplan. Harmon and Bieniemy competed for ball dominance while running the offense, stunting their development. Bieniemy transferred to UTEP in March.
“‘You got to remember to be you, and take the best of you, and put it into the game that will help the team win,’” Deon recalls Hield telling Harmon. “That’s kind of what I’ve tried to get him to understand his whole life.”
After a long offseason of work, Harmon bought into the idea of being himself. He even tweeted it everyday from Sept. 1 to Oct. 13.
Just Be You 💯
— De’Vion Harmon (@TheDH11) October 12, 2020
“I kind of lost that (swagger),” Harmon said, “from me being in high school to my freshman year (of college). And now I finally got it back.
“That’s why the four or five months back at home was really important to me. And I was not just a better basketball player, but became better as a big brother, son, friend, cousin, whatever the case may be.”
Sophomore guard De'Vion Harmon during the game against TCU in Fort Worth on Dec. 6.
‘A lot more bounce’
For the past two summers, Harmon has been working on his body with Billings in the gym.
“I definitely feel like I got a lot more bounce,” Harmon said. “I really took (working out) a lot more seriously.”
Harmon plays with speed and is active in transition, while also adding energy on the defensive end.
SandersFit Performance Center has a new-age workout system, which has attracted numerous professional athletes. A lot of basketball players — like Hield — use SandersFit’s program instead of typical weightlifting.
Billings majored in kinesiology, played football and ran track at Texas A&M Commerce. He’s also certified in biomechanics by the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Instead of traditional weight training, Billings focused on improving Harmon’s body with mobility workouts, functional movements and acceleration work. They did corrective exercises to get the most functionality out of Harmon’s joints.
The acceleration work helps Harmon because he consistently uses his speed with the basketball in his hands, but now has added a much-improved midrange jump shot, so he can more easily go from full speed to pull up for a shot.
“I expect him to be a 94-foot guard, meaning he’s one of the fastest kids with the ball I’ve ever seen,” Deon said. “And I expect him to get up and down the court to put pressure on the defense.”
Harmon said he was able to lose 6 pounds under Billings while also adding back 8 pounds of muscle. He said he feels he’s in the best shape of his life.
Outside of working on his body, Billings has been a mentor for Harmon, guiding him through the process of becoming a professional athlete. Billings FaceTimes with Harmon at least once a week. He kept Harmon on track for a big season, and had him make a goal sheet beforehand.
Harmon’s goals were to win Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, average eight assists per game, increase his free-throw percentage to over 80, grab more rebounds, be more efficient with scoring and focus on his midrange jump shot.
Hield also helped Harmon during the summer as they worked out in the same gym.Billings said he and Hield would bounce ideas off each other and talk to Harmon individually in order to “break him down” and “get back to the basics.”
“I think that’s a great big-brother relationship,” Billings said. “I think that (Hield) is able to talk to (Harmon) directly, and tell him exactly how it is.”
Together, Billings and Hield helped Harmon bridge the gap between being a highly confident player and staying humble. Harmon enters the 2020–21 season with a ton of conviction.
Despite coming off the bench, Harmon didn’t back down. Instead, he’s played with a fiery energy on both sides of the floor as the Sooners opened 2-0.
“In order to get to the next level, confidence is probably one of the major factors,” Deon said. “Everybody's going to get better and their skills are going to get better. Confidence is going to be the key for him. Watching the NBA draft, I can hear it in his voice.
“He knows he belongs.”
