Johnson, the longest-tenured active member of the Silver & Black, is just the second Spur to win the accolade after Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili.
SAN ANTONIO — It took just three days for the San Antonio Spurs to match the number of major end-of-year NBA awards it had received over the previous 11 years.
At least, not when you count Rookie of the Year, of which the Spurs recently boasted back-to-back winners in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle. But this year’s other awards – first Wembanyama, who won Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, and now Keldon Johnson’s Sixth Man of the Year honor – could be read as a reflection of how much the team has grown since its lottery-picking days.
Johnson’s win was made official Wednesday night, when the longest-tenured member of the team bested Tim Hardaway Jr. of the Denver Nuggets and Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat. The 26-year-old forward was one of 18 players to appear in all 82 games this season, averaging 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.6 steals. He came off the bench to average 23.3 minutes per game while shooting 51.9% from the field—a career-best mark aside from his rookie season, when he appeared in just 17 games.
For Spurs fans and the teammates who have praised his trademark energy, the win may also echo the journey Johnson has taken from Spurs rookie in 2019 to locker room leader this year, when San Antonio finished with a 62-20 record and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
The team may be looking even more to Johnson’s leadership in Game 3 of their ongoing first-round series against Portland after Wembanyama suffered a concussion in Tuesday’s Game 2, putting his status for Friday’s matchup into question as the two teams head to Portland tied at one game apiece. It’s a best-of-seven series.
Before Wemby and Johnson’s awards this week, and well before Wembanyama and Castle won Rookie of the Year, Kawhi Leonard was the last Spur to win a major NBA accolade when he was named Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back campaigns in the mid-2010s.
The Sixth Man of the Year award honors the league’s best bench performer and has been handed out since the 1982-83 season. Johnson is just the second Spur to win the award, after Hall of Famer and four-time champion Manu Ginobili following the 2007-08 campaign.
This is a developing story.