No San Antonio Spurs player has as much [riding on next season as Keldon Johnson](https://airalamo.com/spurs-have-made-their-stance-keldon-johnson-crystal-clear). He has been a mainstay on the Spurs over the last six seasons, currently making him San Antonio's longest-tenured player and a fan favorite.
His role has steadily dropped over the last three seasons, and he could find himself out of the rotation with the Spurs stacked on the wing. He'll have to compete for minutes with Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, and 2025 14th overall pick Carter Bryant.
Each of whom has a key advantage over Johnson. Johnson's development has stalled due to his unwieldy jumper. For a while there, it looked as though he would be an elite 3-point shooter.
He drilled 39.8% of his 5.0 3-point attempts in 2021-22 and shot 43% on 7.1 attempts per game through the first 14 games of 2022-23. Then the bottom fell out.
He finished that season shooting below league average and each of the last two years as well. That's a dramatic shift, with Johnson going from being terrific in that regard to underwhelming. However, it appears that he is working to regain his shooting touch this offseason, or at least trying to.
Keldon Johnson regaining his shooting form would be huge for the Spurs
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Johnson is a physical player who often bullies his way to the basket. However, without the threat of a 3-pointer, teams can sag off him and make it harder for him to drive.
Worse yet, most of the Spurs' best shooters are in the starting lineup, meaning that Johnson is often paired up with several suspect shooters. That hurts both him and the Spurs, who have quite a few non-shooters.
But if Johnson were to find his shooting touch, then it would be a game-changer. During the second half of last season, Johnson posted an impressive 14.5 points per game while coming off the bench.
Even still, he only shot 30% from three during that 14-game stretch. His secret was to be ridiculously aggressive, attacking and finishing at the rim. If he can even reemerge as an average shooter, then he could punish teams both inside and out.
Barring that, it may be hard for the Spurs to justify playing him in a big role since his limitations exacerbate their biggest problem. That doesn't mean he'll fall out of the rotation entirely, but he'll have to play well in limited opportunities to prove he still deserves a role.