Activate any nationally broadcast Spurs sport, and amongst all of the dialogue of stars and youth, there’ll virtually all the time even be the speaking level of the Spurs’ longest tenured participant, Keldon Johnson. At 26 years previous, Johnson has held quite a lot of roles for this group, every with various success.
He entered the league within the tumultuous 2020 season, which was reduce quick by the pandemic, solely enjoying 16 video games. He escalated to a beginning position in his subsequent three seasons. At the moment, it wasn’t clear what course the group was headed, however Johnson confirmed potential. In 2022, it seemed as if he might need discovered his area of interest as a shooter, changing 39.8 p.c of his photographs from lengthy vary on 5 makes an attempt a sport, and averaging 49.5 p.c from the corners. Finally, a long-range specialist wouldn’t be his future, as his percentages didn’t keep, averaging 33 p.c from deep over the following three seasons.
Nonetheless, he did rating extra in 2023, leaping from 17 to 22 factors per sport. He wasn’t capturing as nicely, however he was getting buckets, albeit for a poor group. However shortly thereafter, his scoring would begin to dip, averaging 15.7 after which 12.7 factors in his subsequent two years.
Midway via his fifth season, Johnson quickly discovered himself not within the beginning lineup, and by his sixth season, was averaging his fewest factors per sport since his rookie season and his fewest minutes per sport since his sophomore season.
Take into account, that is all inside the comparatively quick window of time the Spurs structured their rebuild. Johnson seemingly in a single day was one of many few gamers nonetheless on the group from when he began. Acquainted faces like Derrick White and Dejounte Murray have been traded away as a part of the rebuild. The group bounced round from middling to bottoming out, and now finds itself resurging, all in a short interval.
Quick ahead to this 12 months, Johnson’s second full 12 months coming off the bench. His utilization is down from 19.7 to 17.8 (per cleaningtheglass.com); he’s averaging about the identical factors per sport (13.2) and about the identical minutes per sport (22.9), however one way or the other all the things is completely different.
Johnson’s effectivity has skyrocketed. His efficient discipline purpose share vaulted from 54.1 to 65.2. His factors per shot try exploded from 1.15 to 1.34 (per cleaningtheglass.com). That is the product of his strict shot eating regimen. Johnson solely takes 2.8 three-point makes an attempt per sport, however he’s making them at a 41.8 p.c clip. Almost half of his photographs are coming on the rim, the place he’s capturing 70.8 p.c. The handful of photographs which might be coming from the mid-range, he’s changing at 56.4 p.c. These are all elite splits.
One way or the other, Coach Mitch Johnson has discovered the right formulation to squeeze absolutely the most out of Keldon Johnson’s minutes. And he’s now very a lot in, if not main, the Sixth Man of the Yr dialogue.
The reasoning for that is multifaceted. Whereas Johnson is just 26 years previous, that is his seventh 12 months and the beginning of his prime. He has benefited from watching, studying, and enjoying skilled basketball as he has matured. Having the profession he’s had, he has been in a position to log minutes and reps, make errors, and be taught from them.
Apparently, when analyzing Johnson’s success, it not solely rests along with his growth but additionally with how the group has developed round him. As famous, he has seen this Spurs group hit its lowest lows, and now it’s ascension into competition. As such, his workload has decreased to almost what it was in his second 12 months. From 2022 to 2024, Johnson maintained a utilization starting from 19.5 p.c to 26.4 p.c (eightieth to 91st percentile per cleaningtheglass.com). In 2025, that dropped to 19.7 and now sits at 17.8 (seventieth and 66th percentiles, respectively).
His play is being maximized, not as a result of he’s doing extra, however reasonably as a result of he’s doing much less.
In earlier years, Johnson had extra alternatives. He had extra minutes, extra shot makes an attempt, and simply had the ball extra. However that wasn’t one of the best position for him. He obtained the photographs up as a result of somebody needed to.
Now, it’s not that each shot he takes is an effective shot a lot as he solely takes good photographs. In his earlier position, he needed to drive the difficulty extra. And whereas he did get extra factors, that didn’t equate to successful. Now, alongside stars like Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox that may drive the difficulty, he doesn’t have to overextend himself. He’s the epitome of a “star in his position” and is precisely what the Spurs want.
Johnson’s tenure with San Antonio has been uncommonly fluctuant. Traditionally, not many Spurs have seen the ups and downs he has. However each he and the group caught with eachother. Main him to seek out the position he now performs, which has confirmed to be more and more precious by most each metric.
