Tag: KELDON JOHNSON
Spurs’ Johnson injures shoulder
San Antonio forward Keldon Johnson suffered a right shoulder posterior dislocation, the team announced Saturday.
Johnson. 22, injured the shoulder during the team’s open gym and has started actively rehabbing.
According to the Spurs, he will miss the start of the preseason schedule, but Johnson is expected to be available for the start of the regular season.
Last season, Johnson averaged a career-high 17.0 points per contest and is one the team’s best players. During the offseason, the Spurs awarded Johnson as he signed a four-year, $80 million rookie scale contract extension.
In addition, San Antonio announced their training camp roster. which currently stands at 20 players. The Silver and Black return 11 players from last season and features six of San Antonio’s first round draft picks from the last four years, as well as six offseason additions.
Head coach Gregg Popovich returns to lead the Spurs for the 27th straight season. San Antonio’s training camp wil:l run Sept. 27 – Oct. 2 before kicking off the 2022-23 campaign with a preseason matchup at Houston on Sunday, Oct. 2.
The Spurs will open the regular season at home on Wednesday, Oct. 19 against the Charlotte Hornets.
2022-23 SAN ANTONIO SPURS TRAINING CAMP ROSTER:
| No. |
Player |
Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | DOB | Prior to NBA/Home Country | Yrs. | ||
| 3 | Keldon Johnson | G/F | 6-6 | 210 | 10/11/99 | Kentucky/USA | 3 | ||
| 7 | Josh Richardson | G | 6-5 | 200 | 09/15/93 | Tennessee/USA | 7 | ||
| 10 | Jeremy Sochan | F | 6-8 | 225 | 05/20/03 | Baylor/Poland-England | R | ||
| 11 | Josh Primo | G | 6-5 | 190 | 12/24/02 | Alabama/Canada | 1 | ||
| 14 | Blake Wesley | G | 6-5 | 185 | 03/16/03 | Notre Dame/USA | R | ||
| 15 | Joe Wieskamp | G/F | 6-6 | 210 | 08/03/99 | Iowa/USA | 1 | ||
| 17 | Doug McDermott | F | 6-8 | 225 | 01/03/92 | Creighton/USA | 8 | ||
| 18 | Isaiah Roby | F | 6-8 | 230 | 02/03/98 | Nebraska/USA | 3 | ||
| 19 | Alize Johnson | F | 6-7 | 210 | 04/22/96 | Missouri State/USA | 4 | ||
| 22 | Malaki Branham | G | 6-5 | 195 | 05/12/03 | Ohio State/USA | R | ||
| 23 | Zach Collins | F/C | 6-11 | 250 | 11/19/97 | Gonzaga/USA | 4 | ||
| 24 | Devin Vassell | G | 6-6 | 195 | 08/23/00 | Florida State/USA | 2 | ||
| 25 | Jakob Poeltl | C | 7-0 | 240 | 10/15/95 | Utah/Austria | 6 | ||
| 26 | Dominick Barlow* | F | 6-10 | 220 | 05/26/03 | Overtime Elite/USA | R | ||
| 27 | Tommy Kuhse | G | 6-2 | 185 | 10/21/96 | Saint Mary’s (CA)/USA | R | ||
| 31 | Keita Bates-Diop | F | 6-8 | 230 | 01/23/96 | Ohio State/USA | 4 | ||
| 33 | Tre Jones | G | 6-2 | 185 | 01/08/00 | Duke/USA | 2 | ||
| 35 | Romeo Langford | G/F | 6-5 | 215 | 10/25/99 | Nebraska/USA | 3 | ||
| 41 | Gorgui Dieng | F/C | 6-10 | 250 | 01/18/90 | Louisville/Senegal | 9 | ||
| 55 | Jordan Hall* | G | 6-8 | 220 | 01/14/02 | St. Joseph’s (PA)/USA | R | ||
| *Two-way Contract | |||||||||
| Head Coach: | Gregg Popovich (Air Force) | ||||||||
| Assistant Coaches: | Brett Brown (Boston University) | ||||||||
| Mitch Johnson (Stanford) | |||||||||
| Matt Nielsen (Australia) | |||||||||
| Darius Songaila (Wake Forest) | |||||||||
Spurs announce 2022-23 schedule, team to play game at Alamodome
The San Antonio Spurs are a franchise in transition. Next season, the rebuild continues and begins on Oct. 19 at home against the Charlotte Hornets, the team announced Wednesday.
This is the team’s 50th anniversary season. On opening night, Spurs legend Manu Ginobili, who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September, will be on hand as his jersey in the rafters of the AT&T Center will be revealed with a Hall of Fame distinction at halftime
ALAMODOME RETURN
Commemorating 50 years in San Antonio, the Spurs will be “Back Home in the Dome” and return to play a game in the Alamodome for the first time since 2002, where they will host the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Friday, Jan. 13.
San Antonio is striving to break the NBA’s all-time attendance record for a regular season game by filling the Alamodome with Silver and Black fans. The league’s current record stands at 62,046 when the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Chicago Bulls in 1998, while the configuration for this year’s Alamodome game will utilize the entire stadium and hold the capacity to reach over 65,000 fans.
Schedule notes:
San Antonio is also set to host premier home games all season long, including the Los Angeles Lakers in back-to-back home games the two days after Thanksgiving on Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26. The Spurs welcome their interstate rival the Dallas Mavericks on New Year’s Eve, and the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics in San Antonio on Saturday, Jan. 7.
The Spurs will play three other home games away from the AT&T Center, part of the Spurs drive to deepen the team’s regional fanbase, with a game in Mexico City on Saturday, Dec. 17 against the Miami Heat, then in Austin against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, April 6 and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday, April 8.
The Spurs will also hold a 2014 Championship Night on Tuesday, March 14, when San Antonio hosts the Orlando Magic.
Spurs exercise team options on Johnson, Vassell
The San Antonio Spurs today have exercised their fourth-year team option on forward Keldon Johnson, as well as their third-year option on guard Devin Vassell for the 2022-23 season, the team announced on Monday.
Johnson, 22, is entering his third year with the Spurs after appearing in 69 games last season and averaging 12.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28.5 minutes. He is one of three Spurs in franchise history (Tim Duncan and David Robinson) to record multiple games with 25-plus points and 10-or-more rebounds in their first 50 career games. Johnson was a member of this summer’s Team USA Basketball squad that captured the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Originally selected by San Antonio in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft (29th overall), Johnson has seen action in 86 regular season games, averaging 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 26.4 minutes.
The 21-year-old Vassell enters his second season with San Antonio following his rookie year when he averaged 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds in 17.0 minutes over 62 games. He became just the seventh rookie in franchise history to record 50-plus three pointers in their first season. The former Florida State Seminole made his NBA debut at Memphis on Dec. 23, 2020, becoming the first rookie to play at least 20 minutes in a Spurs season-opener since James Anderson (27) on Oct. 27, 2010. Vassell became the first Spurs lottery pick since the 1997 season when the Silver and Black selected him with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Keldon Johnson on role with Team USA: ‘I’m here to be the energy guy’
USA Basketball Men’s National Team got off to a rocky start during their series of exhibitions games in Las Vegas. Team USA lost their first two games to Nigeria and Australia but won its final two, including defeating a very good Spain team 83-76 on Sunday night.
Keldon Johnson, who was recently added to Team USA, was huge in this contest. The Spurs forward scored 10 of his 15 points in the third quarter, and Team USA, who trailed throughout the game until an 11-0 run helped the team take complete control in the third quarter.
“Just being active, being a spark,” said Johnson of his performance. “I’m here to be the energy guy and bring life to the team whenever we need it. In the third quarter when I came in, we needed a spark.”
Team USA and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich added: “Keldon Johnson just played a really He shot if he was open, he made cuts to the bucket. When he did go to the bucket, he was very physical. And he was solid in the half-court defense. So, he had a very, very good night.”
Damian Lillard scored 19 points, Johnson had 15, Kevin Durant added 14, and Zach LaVine tallied 13 points for the USA, which heads to Tokyo on Monday and will face France in its Olympic opener on July 25. The Americans have won the past three Olympic gold medals. Ricky Rubio led Spain with 23 points.
According to Popovich, after a slow start, Team USA is starting to come together.
“We just had our sixth practice the other day,” Popovich said. “And after these exhibition games, that’s what we look for — getting better at both ends of the court, learning how to play with each other, because these guys have never played together before. And I think we’re on the right track in that regard, so that’s what I feel good about.”
Team USA has played better in the last two games, and if they come together, talent-wise, there’s no better.
Photo: Team USA
Spurs’ Johnson: ‘I’m blessed and honored to be an Olympian’
The Summer of 2021 could be special times for Spurs F Keldon Johnson. On Friday, Johnson was named to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball roster.
Johnson, along with JaVale McGee, were named to the Team USA roster after Kevin Love decided to withdraw from the Olympics and Bradley Beal being unable to play due to health and safety protocols.
The 21-year-old Johnson is the third player in San Antonio franchise history to be named to the U.S. Olympic team after playing for the Spurs, joining David Robinson (1992, 1996) and Tim Duncan (2004). He also becomes the 32nd player in Spurs history to suit up for San Antonio and represent their country at the Olympics.
“I’m blessed and honored to be an Olympian,” Johnson said to reporters via a Zoom call on Friday.
Originally named to the 2021 USA Basketball Select Team on July 1, Johnson participated in the national team’s training camp in Las Vegas and played in two exhibition games, averaging 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds against Australia and Argentina.
Being around many great players will be very beneficial to Johnson, which he discussed on Friday.
“I’m definitely learning something new every day,” he said. “I feel like I’m around a lot of great players and some of the best players in the league, so just if I don’t understand something, asking questions. Just seeing things that they do different than what I would do. Just learning from it and putting my own spin on it. I think just being around these guys and being able to go and compete against them in practice and then play with them in a game really is teaching me a lot about basketball.”
In his second season with the Spurs, Johnson averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 28.5 minutes in being named to the 2021 NBA Rising Stars Roster. He became the first player in his first two seasons to average at least 12.0 points and 6.0 rebounds since Duncan in 1998-99.
Team USA, coached by Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, will compete in the Summer Olympic Games from July 23 through Aug. 8 in Tokyo, Japan.
Listen below as Johnson reacts to joining Team USA:
Johnson, McGee added to Team USA, Love withdraws
USA Basketball announced on Friday the addition of USA Select Team guard Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs) and NBA veteran center JaVale McGee (Denver Nuggets) to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball roster. Johnson and McGee fill openings created after Bradley Beal went into health and safety protocol and following Kevin Love’s announcement Friday morning that he was withdrawing from the team due to his ongoing calf recovery.
The pair join previously announced U.S. Olympic Team 2020 members: Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics).
Because of their current involvement in the 2021 NBA Finals, Booker, Holiday, and Middleton will join the USA squad after completion of the Finals.
The USA coaching staff is led by head coach Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs) with assistant coaches Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Lloyd Pierce, and Jay Wright (Villanova University).
Johnson, a 6-foot-5 guard, attended the national team’s Las Vegas training camp as a member of the USA Select Team and was added to the USA roster for the team’s exhibition games. He has seen action in two of the USA’s three exhibition games in Las Vegas, averaging 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Having completed his second season with the Spurs in 2020-21, he started 67 of the 69 games he played in and averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
A 7-foot center, McGee completed in 2020-21 his 13th NBA regular season. Playing 33 games in 2020-21 for the Cleveland Cavaliers and 13 games for the Denver Nuggets, McGee averaged 7.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocked shots per game.
The rescheduled Summer Olympic Games are being held July 23-Aug. 8 in Tokyo, Japan. Twelve nations will compete in the Olympic men’s basketball competition that will be held at the Saitama Super Arena. In addition, to host Japan, nations qualified for the Tokyo Olympics men’s basketball competition include Argentina, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Nigeria, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States.
The American men will open the Olympic preliminary round play on July 25 against France (8 a.m. EDT), then will play Iran on July 28 (12:40 a.m. EDT) and will close out preliminary play on July 31 (8:00 a.m. EDT) versus the Czech Republic.
Garland, Bey, Johnson, four others added to USA National Team for exhibition games
With three U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team members involved in the NBA Finals and unavailable, USA Basketball today announced that seven members of the 2021 USA Select Team would remain with the national team for five exhibition games from July 10-18 in Las Vegas.
Added to the USA National Team roster for the domestic exhibitions were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons); Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers); John Jenkins (Bilbao Basket, Italy); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey); Da
The seven players join U.S. Olympic Team 2020 members: Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics).
Because of their involvement in the 2021 NBA Finals, Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks) and Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) are unable to join the USA squad during the upcoming exhibition games.
The USA coaching staff is led by head coach Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs) with assistant coaches Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Lloyd Pierce and Jay Wright (Villanova University) and Jerry Colangelo serving as the USA Men’s National Team managing director.
Completing Friday its Las Vegas training camp that was held July 6-9, the USA will continue its preparations for Tokyo with a five-game exhibition series that includes matchups against Nigeria on July 10 (5 p.m. PDT); Australia on July 12 (5 p.m. PDT); Argentina on July 13 (3 p.m. PDT); Australia for a second time on July 16 (3 p.m. PDT); and Spain on July 18 (6 p.m. PDT). All of the exhibition games will be played at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay.
Jenkins, Magette, Mathias and Reynolds all bring recent USA Basketball experience as members of either the USA World Cup Qualifying or USA AmeriCup Qualifying teams. Jenkins played in the November 2019 World Cup Qualifying window and the November 2020 AmeriCup Qualifying window and helped the USA to a combined 4-0 record. Reynolds was a member of the USA World Cup Qualifying team for the November 2018 and February 2019 teams and helped the Americans to a 4-0 record. Magette played for the USA in the AmeriCup Qualifying in the February 2020 and November 2020 windows, while Mathias was a member of the February 2021 USA AmeriCup Qualifying Team that finished 2-0in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Garland and Johnson were members of the USA Junior National Select Team that participated in the 2018 Nike Hoop Summit and were a part of USA Basketball’s Junior National Team program. Additionally, Jenkins was a member of the 2011 USA World University Games Team.
Photo: Team USA
Spurs’ Vassell: ‘We got all the making of a winning culture’
The San Antonio Spurs season ended where it began on Wednesday night as the Spurs fell to the Grizzlies 100-96 at FedExForum in the Play-In Tournament.
With the win, the ninth-seeded Grizzlies will head on the road to battle the Warriors on Friday night. The winner of that game will be the eighth seed in the Western Conference. The Spurs defeated the Grizzlies in Memphis in their season-opener, but it was a different story on Wednesday night.
Grizzlies led by as many as 21 points in the first quarter and had a 38-19 lead at the end of one. However, San Antonio would close the gap in the second quarter and would trail 56-49 at halftime. San Antonio entered the fourth quarter trailing by seven but would take their first lead since the first quarter when DeMar DeRozan made a jump shot to take an 80-79 with over seven minutes to go. However, the Grizzlies would go on a 15-7 run to take control from there.
San Antonio missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season, which is the first time that happened in team history.
Even though San Antonio lost on Wednesday night, Gregg Popovich was happy with the team’s effort.
“No matter what the mistakes, no matter what the circumstances are, they really fight,” Popovich said. “That’s a good base. So, I’m really proud of the way they conducted themselves and played to win.”
The Spurs have some decent young players in Derrick White, Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV, Keldon Johnson, and according to rookie Devin Vassell, San Antonio has the talent to make noise for years to come.
“I think the sky’s the limit, honestly,” Vassell said after the game. “The young crew, the young core that we have; I mean we got talent, we got grit, we got hustle. We got all the making of a winning culture, and we’re all going to bond together; we’re going to stick together this summer. We’re going to push each other to get better each day. We’re going to come back with a vengeance next year.”
The Spurs are stuck in the middle right now. Too good to get a very good pick and not good enough to make the playoffs. DeMar DeRozan, 31, the team’s best player and closer, will be a free agent, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. This team is still looking for a star, and maybe one of the young guys can be that.
Also, Gregg Popovich is 72, so it should be interesting to see how many years he has left. The future is not bleak for the Spurs, and the team does have plenty of cap space(over $50 million), but San Antonio is not a major free agent destination, which could make things tricky.
San Antonio still has more work to do if they want to get back to the playoffs and be contenders in the Western Conference.
