<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/spurs-news-chris-paul-signing-forces-keldon-johnson-jersey-number-change');   ga('set', 'title', 'Spurs’ Chris Paul signing forces Keldon Johnson jersey number change');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Spurs-news-Chris-Paul-signing-forces-Keldon-Johnson-jersey-number-change.jpg"></figure><h1>Spurs’ Chris Paul signing forces Keldon Johnson jersey number change</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-09-05T07:08:12-07:00">September 5th, 7:08am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-09-05T07:08:12-07:00">September 5th, 7:08am</time><address><a href="https://letterboxd.com/splooshpuhrty/films/by/your-rating/">Jedd Pagaduan</a>Jedd Pagaduan is a certified Clippers and Gunners fan, which means he's a very sports-traumatized individual. He now writes about sports instead as a form of therapy.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Being a respected veteran across the association has its perks. For Chris Paul, who has cultivated his brand of “CP3” quite carefully throughout the course of his entire career, there is almost a need for him to be able to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-news-russell-westbrook-inspiration-jersey-number-change">get that jersey number</a>, regardless of which team he plays for. After signing with the San Antonio Spurs, though, Paul would have to ask Keldon Johnson, the owner of the jersey number “3”, to give way.</p><p>This is exactly what Johnson did, as he gave his new teammate his longtime jersey number with the Spurs. Now, the 24-year-old forward will be <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C_gYhquRQl-/" rel="noopener">wearing the jersey number “0”</a>, as revealed on his official Instagram account.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C_gYhquRQl-/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading"><div style="padding: 16px;"><p> </p><div style="display: flex;"><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div><div style="display: flex;"><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div><div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"><div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div><div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div><div></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"><div></div><div></div><div></div></div></div><div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 24px;"><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div><div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div><p> </p><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C_gYhquRQl-/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" rel="noopener" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Keldon Johnson (@keldonjohnson)</a></p></div></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></figure><p>This was the same jersey number that Johnson wore when the Spurs sent him down to their G-League affiliate in Austin back in his rookie 2019-20 campaign. For what it’s worth, Johnson played well for Austin and foreshadowed the level of scorer he would become in the NBA eventually, averaging 20.3 points per game on 53.1 percent shooting from the field in 31 games while donning the number “0”.</p><p>Keldon Johnson received flowers from his Spurs teammates for his kind gesture, and they look forward to seeing what’s next in his career.</p><p>“New Era we locked in 0🖤,” Devin Vassell commented on Johnson’s Instagram post.</p><p>“Yeah 0,” wrote Tre Jones.</p><p>“😈,” expressed Jeremy Sochan.</p><p>“🥷🏽🥷🏽,” added Blake Wesley.</p><p>Meanwhile, Johnson’s gesture to give Chris Paul his jersey number for the Spurs since day one means that Paul will be having the same jersey number that he has always had throughout his NBA career which has already spanned 18 seasons.</p><p>From New Orleans to Los Angeles to Houston to Oklahoma City to Phoenix and then to San Francisco, Paul has had the comfort of wearing the number “3” which at least gives him some semblance of stability after going through a ton of transitions, and now, the same is the case as he begins his journey in San Antonio.</p><h2>Can the Spurs take a huge leap in Year 2 of the Victor Wembanyama era?</h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Wembanyama-Chris-Paul.jpg"></figure><p>The 2023-24 season wasn’t a disaster for the Spurs in any capacity. Sure, it’s not exactly a promising sign that they won just 22 games last season despite adding one of the best defenders in the league in transcendent talent Victor Wembanyama. But it showed the areas of the ball where they needed a lot of work in, and it looks as though they’ve <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/reasons-why-spurs-chris-paul-deal-massive-steal">managed to fill those gaps</a> this offseason.</p><p>For starters, the point guard situation last season was a mess. Jeremy Sochan showed that he is not a natural floor general, while Tre Jones, as good and willing of a playmaker as he is, leaves a lot to be desired on offense. Moreover, the Spurs’ wing depth last season wasn’t great, as they had to rely on Julian Champagnie to start at the three.</p><p>They rectified those situations this offseason by signing Chris Paul and acquiring Harrison Barnes in a salary dump. Paul is not the player he once was, but he makes sure that the offensive execution is on point. Meanwhile, Barnes gives the Spurs some size and scoring on the wing, allowing Keldon Johnson to thrive as a spark plug off the bench.</p><p>Leaps from Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham, and Sochan are possible given how young they are, while Stephon Castle could be an impact player from day one thanks to his defense. And with Wembanyama leading the way, these <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-2024-25-season-easier-other-teams">Spurs could make a lot more noise</a> next season than people expect.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Spurs’ Chris Paul signing forces Keldon Johnson jersey number change

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-rumors-spurs-hear-keldon-johnson-trade-offers-catch');   ga('set', 'title', 'NBA rumors: Spurs will hear Keldon Johnson trade offers, but there’s a catch');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Spurs-will-hear-Keldon-Johnson-trade-offers-but-theres-a-catch.jpg"></figure><h1>NBA rumors: Spurs will hear Keldon Johnson trade offers, but there’s a catch</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-05-30T18:56:41-07:00">May 30th, 6:56pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-05-30T18:56:41-07:00">May 30th, 6:56pm</time><address><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@LedesmaHector">Hector Ledesma</a>Hector Ledesma has been covering the Spurs in San Antonio since 2005, but he has been following them for even longer than that. An award-winning journalist born and raised in San Antonio, Hector has worked across all types of television and radio platforms. His work extends online and through social media (@HectorLedesmaTV) where he continues that work with ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>As the San Antonio Spurs look to improve their roster around generational talent Victor Wembanyama, everything is on the table. That doesn’t mean every player on the team or asset will be part of a trade, but it does mean there is no shortage of options. At the top of that list may be Keldon Johnson.</p><p>With the NBA Draft approaching, Johnson’s name has been one that has come up in trade discussion. While<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-2024-nba-mock-draft-roundup-after-combine"> the Spurs will listen</a> to offers on the table, San Antonio <a href="https://x.com/BrettSiegelNBA/status/1795168091275657251" rel="noopener">isn’t necessarily rushing</a> to trade away Johnson, via Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.</p><p>“Coming out of the NBA Draft Combine, the talk around the league is that the Spurs will be open for business with both of their draft picks,” Siegel reported. “In addition to the team being open to discussing trade ideas with both the fourth and eighth overall picks, the Spurs will be willing to hear offers involving Keldon Johnson.”</p><p>“However, the Spurs still view Johnson as a key building block next to Wembanyama, and have given teams no indication that he is currently on the trade block,” Siegel continued.</p><p>There are several reasons the Spurs, and teams around the NBA, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-news-keldon-johnson-opens-up-tough-sacrifice-2023-24-season">view Johnson as</a> a potential trade candidate.</p><h2>Keldon Johnson’s contract</h2><p>Though the former Kentucky Wildcat signed his second contract with the Spurs two years ago, the four year extension was front-loaded. <a href="https://x.com/NBA/status/1719582353780347009">After making $20 million dollars</a> this past season, Johnson is set to make 19 million this coming year. He’s then slated to make $17.5 million in each of the next two seasons.</p><p>In other words, his contract his friendly. Especially for a player who’s coming off averaging 15.7 points per game after scoring 22 PPG and 17 PPG the previous two years. Which leads to another reason why San Antonio may get nibbles regarding Johnson.</p><h2>Johnson’s lasting impact</h2><p>In altering his game for <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-victor-wembanyama-headlines-2023-24-nba-all-rookie-teams">Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama</a>, Johnson still ranked third on the team in scoring while giving the second unit a punch. During the season, Hall of Fame head coach Gregg Popovich moved the five-year pro to a reserve role so that offensive production wouldn’t suffer so severely once Wemby, second-leading scorer Devin Vassell, fourth-leading scorer Jeremy Sochan and Johnson left the floor.</p><p>In coming off the bench in 42 of the 69 games he played in 2023-2024, Johnson averaged 5.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists in 29.5 minutes for the season. He shot 34.6% from three-point land and 45.4% from the field. All of his numbers are among or around the middle of the pack in regard to team leaders.</p><h2>Johnson still oozes potential</h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Keldon-Johnson.jpg"><figcaption>Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>At 24 years old, Johnson is still young.  At a time when rookies are routinely entering the NBA at 19, he’s no longer very young comparatively – as his time as the longest tenured current Spur would suggest.</p><p>That said, barring anything unexpected, Johnson has the majority of his career in front of him, including a couple of seasons that could be among his most productive. Not bad considering he’s already averaged 22 points per contest.</p><p>Though Wembanyama’s place as their cornerstone may be the only certainty for the Spurs, it’s easy to see why they’d like to hold on to Vassell, who’s continued to increase high scoring averages and is 23-years-old, and 21-year-old Sochan, who’s made back to back Rising Stars games.</p><p>For this reason and more, it stands to reason that should a team in trade talks with the Spurs want a current player in addition to a draft pick, Johnson could be a top option.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

NBA rumors: Spurs will hear Keldon Johnson trade offers, but there’s a catch

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/spurs-news-keldon-johnson-opens-up-tough-sacrifice-2023-24-season');   ga('set', 'title', 'Spurs’ Keldon Johnson opens up about ‘tough’ sacrifice made in 2023-24 season');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Keldon-Johnson-opens-up-about-sacrifice-made-in-2023-24-season.jpg"></figure><h1>Spurs’ Keldon Johnson opens up about ‘tough’ sacrifice made in 2023-24 season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-04-21T07:37:41-07:00">April 21st, 7:37am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-04-21T07:43:31-07:00">April 21st, 7:43am</time><address><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@LedesmaHector">Hector Ledesma</a>Hector Ledesma has been covering the Spurs in San Antonio since 2005, but he has been following them for even longer than that. An award-winning journalist born and raised in San Antonio, Hector has worked across all types of television and radio platforms. His work extends online and through social media (@HectorLedesmaTV) where he continues that work with ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>He’s only 24 years old and can count his years in the Alamo City on one hand. Yet, Keldon Johnson is the longest-tenured San Antonio Spur and the oldest member of what would be considered their core. He headed into this past season as the Spurs’ leading scorer. He heads into the offseason as a reserve.</p><p>About a third of the way into the 2023-2024 campaign, the fifth-year Spur was moved to the bench for the first time since his rookie season. At the time, coach Gregg Popovich talked about the need for a spark from the second unit. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-keldon-johnson-role-change-provides-blueprint-future-success">Johnson agreed</a>, expressing a sentiment that would almost become a personal rallying cry for the rest of the season. The former Kentucky Wildcat would consistently utter that he’d do “whatever the team needed” or, similarly, would do “what was best for the team.”</p><p>In his last meeting with the media, Johnson’s status as the team’s key sixth man came up one more time. But, perhaps, for the first time, the 2019 first-round pick publicly admitted that a transition out of the starting lineup wasn’t as seamless as he had let on.</p><p>“It’s tough. If I was to say it was OK, you know what I mean, I’d be lying.”</p><p>“It was definitely an adjustment for me, but I roll with the punches and do what my team and my coaches need me to do for us to win,” the Spurs forward added as he wrapped with a familiar refrain.</p><h2><b>Keldon Johnson adapts to new Spurs role</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spurs-Keldon-Johnson-reacts-to-call.jpg"><figcaption>Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>Keldon Johnson actually ended the season on the bench — <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-news-keldon-johnson-latest-key-player-possibly-done-season-injury">as in not playing at all</a>. As was the case with most of the best players on the team because of injury. Though KJ wasn’t ruled out for the remainder of the year as Devin Vassell and Jeremy Socham were, he might as well have been. Because of a sprained left foot, his last game came on April 6, a full week before the Spurs’ season ended.</p><p>It was a year that saw his scoring average drop by around seven points per game, getting 15.7 per contest after he led the team with 22 per in 2022-23. Interestingly enough, none of the other stats dipped for the 2019 29th overall pick. In fact, most slightly improved. While his assists per night went from 2.9 to 2.8 and his steals average stayed the same, his rebounding went up from 5.0 to 5.5. As did his shooting, 45.2% to 45.4% from the field and from 32.9% to 34.6% on three-point attempts. He turned the ball over less and, by a fraction, blocked more shots.</p><p>Still, his playing time decreased some.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Talked with Keldon Johnson about the possibility of moving back into the starting line up if Pop makes changes….</p><p>“….I have no idea…if I’m back in the line up, I’ll be prepared…”</p><p>Extended answer⬇️</p><p>More with KJ soon<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoSpursGo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoSpursGo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PorVida?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PorVida</a> <a href="https://t.co/UKrqaHsFg1">pic.twitter.com/UKrqaHsFg1</a></p><p>— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/HectorLedesmaTV/status/1739896448034934861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“It was definitely tough,” Johnson continued to admit. “It’s hard because it was hard to adjust. It was tough.”</p><p>His 29.5 minutes per contest, down three minutes from the season before, were fourth on the team this past season. His 15 and a half points ranked third.</p><p>“I knew that that was going to be a part of it. I continued to fight, just continued to fight and do whatever my teammates need me to do, my coaches need me to do to put this team in the best situation to be successful.”</p><p>A familiar expression. And, for now, Keldon Johnson’s reality.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Spurs’ Keldon Johnson opens up about ‘tough’ sacrifice made in 2023-24 season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/spurs-news-keldon-johnson-latest-key-player-possibly-done-season-injury');   ga('set', 'title', 'Spurs’ Keldon Johnson the latest key player possibly done for season with injury');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spurs-news-Keldon-Johnson-the-latest-key-player-possibly-done-for-season-with-injury.jpeg"></figure><h1>Spurs’ Keldon Johnson the latest key player possibly done for season with injury</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-04-08T13:36:28-07:00">April 8th, 1:36pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-04-08T13:36:28-07:00">April 8th, 1:36pm</time><address><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@LedesmaHector">Hector Ledesma</a>Hector Ledesma has been covering the Spurs in San Antonio since 2005, but he has been following them for even longer than that. An award-winning journalist born and raised in San Antonio, Hector has worked across all types of television and radio platforms. His work extends online and through social media (@HectorLedesmaTV) where he continues that work with ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Already <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/how-devin-vassell-injury-impacts-spurs-draft-lottery-odds">missing second-leading scorer Devin Vassell</a> and two-time NBA Rising Star Jeremy Sochan for the remainder of the season, the San Antonio Spurs could be without another of their best players for this final week. Keldon Johnson left <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-news-victor-wembanyamas-historic-rookie-season-continues-never-before-seen-stat-line">Sunday’s 133-126 double overtime loss</a> to the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth quarter and did not return.</p><p>Gregg Popovich confirmed after the game that his team’s third-leading scorer re-aggravated a left foot injury that had plagued him for the better part of two weeks.</p><p>With just four games left in a season in which the Silver and Black sport one of the NBA’s worst records, the lottery looms for a franchise looking to rebuild around generational talent Victor Wembanyama.</p><h2>Spurs teammates feel for Keldon Johnson</h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/San-Antonio-Spurs-forward-Keldon-Johnson.jpeg"><figcaption>Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>Sunday’s game was Johnson’s <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/johnske04/gamelog/2024" rel="noopener">first action of the month</a>. Because of a left foot sprain, he missed three contests against the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, and New Orleans Pelicans. Before that stretch, he didn’t play in a game at the Utah Jazz on March 25.</p><p>“Keldon, he’s a one-of-a-kind player for me, to this team at least. He’s the heart and soul of this team,” Julian Chamagnie said.</p><p>“He brings a lot of energy. Regardless if he’s scoring or not, his presence is definitely felt on both ends of the floor so losing him, it definitely hurt us. We were able to stay in it so credit to the guys who came in and replaced [him] and stepped up. It always hurts to lose somebody, ” the Spurs forward continued.</p><p>Before exiting with 7:28 to go in regulation, Johnson scored 7 points and grabbed 4 rebounds through 24 minutes in a rare start.</p><p>“Definitely sucks. I feel awful for him. He just wants to be out there with us so bad. It’s definitely not an easy one for him, knowing the a competitor he is, how much he loves being around the team, especially on the court with us. It’s definitely a bummer. I feel for him right now,” Tre Jones said.</p><p>“It’s tough,” Champagnie added, “It’s rough. It’s an annoying injury.”</p><p>It’s just nagging,” the second-year Spur continued.</p><p>“He’ll be OK, a whole off-season. Lucky for him, the season’s coming to an end, it’s winding down. So he’ll have the off-season to just rehab and get better and take care of it and be ready for next season.”</p><h2>Johnson bites teammate Julian Champagnie</h2><p>Before leaving the court for perhaps the last time this season, Johnson accidentally bit one of his teammates.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Keldon Johnson celebrated so hard, that he smashed his teeth into Julian Champagnie‘s forehead &amp; he had to go to the locker room to get the bite marks cleaned up 😂💀 <a href="https://t.co/owbQFVSKyl">pic.twitter.com/owbQFVSKyl</a></p><p>— Courtside Buzz (@OfficialNBABuzz) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialNBABuzz/status/1777133362416599288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2024</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“That’s a first for me. I don’t know, man. I think he wanted that three,” Champagnie continued about the celebratory moment following a shot that gave the 19-59 Spurs a lead vs. the postseason-bound 76ers. “So, he kind of got a little mad at me and bit me.”</p><p>“Nah, Anybody who knows Keldon, he’s super energetic. It was totally an accident but he’s going to have to close his mouth around me from now on,” the Spurs starter continued.</p><p>“That was crazy, that was crazy,” Jones added. “Only Keldon would do that, though. Nobody else would do that but Keldon. That’s crazy.”</p><p>“I’ll just stay away from him,” Champagnie jokingly concluded.</p><p>His Spurs teammates hope Johnson isn’t forced to stay away from the court for a while.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Spurs’ Keldon Johnson the latest key player possibly done for season with injury

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/spurs-keldon-johnson-hilariously-reveals-he-had-no-interest-in-capturing-wild-bat-at-frost-bank-center');   ga('set', 'title', 'Spurs’ Keldon Johnson hilariously reveals he had no interest in capturing wild bat at Frost Bank Center');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Spurs_news_Keldon_Johnson_hilariously_reveals_he_had_no_interest_in_capturing_wild_bat_at_Frost_Bank_Center.webp"></figure><h1>Spurs’ Keldon Johnson hilariously reveals he had no interest in capturing wild bat at Frost Bank Center</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-01-28T11:15:34-08:00">January 28th, 11:15am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-01-28T11:15:34-08:00">January 28th, 11:15am</time><address><a>Sonny Giuliano</a>Sonny Giuliano has been covering the NFL, College Football, NBA and College Basketball for well over a decade, but he's never claimed to be an expert ... just a sports fan who cares WAY too much. Follow Sonny on Twitter (or X, whatever Elon's calling it) @SonnyCG for his sports and pop culture takes</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>A few years back on Five Thirty Eight, Chris Herring answered an <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-are-there-so-many-bats-at-spurs-games/" rel="noopener">important and puzzling question</a>… why do the San Antonio Spurs have such difficulty keeping bats out of their home arena? This is what Herring found back in 2019.</p><p>“The AT&amp;T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) is 25 miles southwest of Bracken Cave, which is home to more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats, making it the largest summer bat colony in the world. The world’s largest urban bat colony, and home to about 1.5 million bats — is only about 75 miles away. What’s more, it’s logical that bats would fly past the arena, particularly during the winter months. The stadium is almost directly in the bats’ migration path from Central America and Mexico back to Bracken Cave, where maternal colonies fly to have and nurse their newborns.”</p><p>Okay, so we have that answer. And that explains why on a late-January night in San Antonio, another bat flew into the Frost Bank Center, once again causing a delay in the game, this time a contest between the Spurs and the Timberwolves. Now, this leads me to my next question… who in their right mind wants to be the one responsible for handling the removal of a bat during the game, if and when a circumstance like this comes up? Manu Ginobili is retired, and since <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHtL3NYb4Y" rel="noopener">it was “Bat-Manu”</a> who famously took care of these issues in the past, that leaves the Spurs mascot, Coyote, to handle the job. Just don’t expect Keldon Johnson to do anything about it.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Keldon Johnson when asked if he thought about going after the bat during last night's Spurs-Timberwolves game 😆</p><p>"I'm borderline scared of the dark… That ain't really up my alley… Manu [Ginobili] caught the bat, he had to get some shots. I'm letting you I don't wanna do… <a href="https://t.co/kQO1uy6D0z">https://t.co/kQO1uy6D0z</a> <a href="https://t.co/jbGKA4fxf2">pic.twitter.com/jbGKA4fxf2</a></p><p>— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1751651255229780087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>During his media availability Keldon Johnson shared that he’s “borderline scared of the dark,” and I get it, because I’m full-on afraid of birds and bats (and large moths, and a little bit of butterflies, but I digress), so I would’ve done the same thing had I been in his shoes. Johnson finished the game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Devin Vassell <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-news-devin-vassells-hyped-reaction-best-win-year-timberwolves">led the Spurs</a> in scoring with 25 points, and Victor Wembanyama chipped in a 23 point, 10 rebound double-double, the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-victor-wembanyamas-eye-opening-rudy-gobert-admission-after-shocking-upset-of-timberwolves">21st of his rookie season</a>.</p><p>But you don’t have to look any further than the Coyote in a Batman suit to find your Spurs player of the game.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2023-24 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
15.7	5.5	2.8	0.3	0.7

2023-24 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
15.7	5.5	2.8	0.3	0.7

Keldon Johnson

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Spurs’ Keldon Johnson hilariously reveals he had no interest in capturing wild bat at Frost Bank Center

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