Just days after Victor Wembanyama made defensive history, another Spurs pillar has been honored by the league for a transformation that redefined the team’s season; Yankee Scores reports……
Keldon Johnson has emerged as NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, the league disclosed on Wednesday.
A Record-Breaking Sacrifice
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson made the most of the club’s decision to move him to the bench two seasons ago.
“I wanted to be part of something special here in San Antonio,” Johnson said on ESPN after he was revealed as the winner. “I knew that in order for me to really be the best for our team that coming off the bench was probably my best possibility. At first, it was tough. I had to (control) my ego and put the team first. After that, the sky was the limit.”
The 24-year-old became the first Spur in the history of the franchise to put up 1,000 points off the bench in one season, an achievement accomplished by one of the best sixth men ever played, Manu Ginobili, and no other player except him from the organization had been bestowed with such honor. Johnson scored 1,081 points off the bench this year, the second-highest point score among all reserves in the NBA.
Topping a High-Octane Field
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami and Tim Hardaway Jr., Denver, were the other two runners-up of this coveted award. Jaquez scored highest among all substitutes in the game, whereas Hardaway had hit the most number of three-point shots (205), and scored fourth most.
“It’s a little emotional,” Johnson said. “It’s a big accomplishment. A lot of hard work goes into an award like this.”
“I started for a long time,” Johnson said. “Now, it’s my time to come off the bench. I just continue to analyze the game, come off the bench, go in there and just do my thing.”
“Johnson has sacrificed more than anybody on this team in my opinion in terms of stats and playing time and has outshone everybody on the team because he’s the soul of this team,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, who on Monday was named Defensive Player of the Year, said last month. “He brings energy, no matter what time of the day. He deserves to be the Sixth Man of the Year.”
The “Heart and Soul” of San Antonio
Johnson has come off the bench in 201 of his last 202 games, including 159 over the past two seasons.
“You see it all over the place,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said in December. “The kid’s just falling on the floor. He puts his body in harm’s way for the betterment of the team every game. He’s the heart and soul of the team. We’ve got a lot of big personalities, and we’ve got a face of the franchise. But that guy’s the heart and soul. You can see it when you watch us for long enough.”
