Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2025-26 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, no players who were traded away, and none of the deep bench centers, since they were both irrelevant and are now all gone).
Keldon Johnson
2025-26 stats: 82 games, 23 MPG, 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 51.9 FG%, 36.3 3P%
Contract status: 1-year, $17.5 million remaining
Age: 26
If I really wanted to, I could probably copy-paste Keldon Johnson’s 2024-25 Player Review almost
verbatim here, with only a few positive tweaks, and no one would be the wiser. Of course, I respect my fellow Pounders too much to do that, but it would not be that far off. Not only did KJ repeat last season by doing everything that was asked of him off the bench and actually improved on his few areas of weakness on his way to winning Sixth Man of the Year, beating out Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. while becoming just the second Spur to win the award, along with Manu Ginobili.
He surpassed his own Spurs record from last year for points off the bench with 1,081 points in the regular season, in large part thanks to being an iron man, appearing in all 82 games, and an improved three-point shot. Not counting his rookie season — in which he only appeared in 17 games and broke out in the bubble — this was his second-best season from beyond the arc, where he hit 36.6%, up from 31.8% last season on a similar number of attempts. His overall FG% of 51.9 was a career-best (again, outside his rookie season), as was his finishing from 3-10 ft out at 53.6%, showing an improved ability to adjust when he couldn’t quite get all the way to the rim.
And of course, there’s his leadership. Beyond being the longest-tenured player on the team and the heart and soul of the locker room with his contagious energy and sense of humor, he was also their emotional leader on the court. Finally, one of the biggest needs for the Spurs coming into this season if they wanted to take another leap was get better in the non-Wemby minutes. Of course, it’s impossible to expect the bench to maintain the same level, but simply not falling off a cliff when he rested was all that was needed, and the second unit did more than enough of that under Keldon’s guidance — although here comes the caveat again: in the regular season.
Like Luke Kornet and every other bench player not named Dylan Harper, Johnson’s production plummeted in the playoffs. He went from a net positive in the regular season to a negative one, with his numbers dipping to 7.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting just over 40% from the floor in 18 minutes per game. About the only thing he did well enough was maintain 36% shooting from three, but on fewer attempts. He had some stretches where he came up huge, like that all-important Game 7 in OKC, where he scored 8 of his 11 points in the first four minutes of the 4th quarter as the Spurs built a cushion that would be vital for holding on down the stretch, but the Finals were especially rough, where he only averaged 4.4 points per game.
Obviously, it’s not fair to blame losing the championship entirely on one player — if we’re being brutally honest, it was the stars who bungled the final minutes, which is where the games were lost — but Johnson is among those whose image suffered a bit from the sour ending. However, we still have to pull back and remember the bigger picture of the entire season, which was a massive success and far exceeded expectations. They don’t get the second seed and make the Finals without depth and leadership, and the Sixth Man of the Year brought both in spades.
Looking ahead
It’s probably safe to say that Keldon is officially in his prime and therefore is who he is as a player at this point: a hardnosed bulldog who uses his strength to force is way to the basket and get rebounds. He added (recovered?) a level to his game by being enough of a threat from three that defenses had to respect his shot, which in turn opened driving lanes, but he could still be more consistent in that area.
Now comes the hard part that I don’t even want to discuss because I always have that favorite role player who epitomizes everything the Spurs are about. Before, it was Derrick White, and since it has been KJ. That being said, despite being a Keldon Stan, I can see the big picture. He has one year left on his contract, and while he’s already on a good deal, his next one may have to be even more team-friendly if he wants to remain a Spur after next season — if he isn’t used as a trade chip first.
My guess would be based on the offseason, the Spurs want to run back the same team next season and go for the championship again, so barring something going awry and a need for change, I don’t see a big trade during the season. But next summer might be a different story. I want Keldon to be a Spur for life, and I’m sure he does too, but he may need to take a discount to make it happen. That’s the new reality with the current CBA and ever-shrinking “middle class” of the NBA, especially for contenders who have to pay their stars then fill out with cheaper contracts. That moment of reckoning is coming for the Spurs.
In the meantime, the best thing Keldon can do is keep being himself, continue to show his importance to the club, and a make his goal for next season to be a bigger factor in the playoffs. After that, the chips will fall where they may.
Top performance
January 7 vs. Los Angeles Lakers: 27 points, 6 rebounds, 11-13 FG, 2-3 from three
I chose to go with KJ’s best regular season performance instead of playoffs to help show why he won Sixth Man of the Year, which was determined before the postseason. It was actually hard to pick one since he had several big performances off the bench (of course), but we’ll also give a shoutout to his best playoff performance, which was Game 5 vs. the Timberwolves, where he had 21 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals as part of a full team blowout.
Final Score: B+
Up next: Harrison Barnes
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