The NBA announced Wednesday that San Antonio Spurs swingman Keldon Johnson has been voted the league’s Sixth Man of the Year by a 100-member global media panel.
The seventh-year veteran earned the John Havlicek Trophy for delivering 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 51.9% from the field and 36.3% from 3-point range. He was the only player in the league to come off the bench in all 82 games.
“It’s a little emotional,” Johnson said on ESPN after he was revealed as the winner. “It’s a big accomplishment. A lot of hard work goes into an award like this.”
Johnson ranked as the No. 5 scorer and No. 4 rebounder on a squad that posted the league’s second-best record (62-20) during the regular season.
The 26-year-old Kentucky product has spent his entire NBA career with the Spurs after being drafted with the 29th overall pick in 2019. He joins Manu Ginobili (2007-08) as the only Spurs to be named Sixth Man of the Year.
During Johnson’s first four years in the league he was an everyday starter for the Spurs, starting in 205 of the 224 games he appeared in. But during his fifth season he started to embrace the role as a spark plug off the bench, which has paid dividends.
“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.”
“I wanted to be part of something special here in San Antonio. 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.”
Johnson received 63 of the 100 first-place votes and collected 404 points. The Miami Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., claimed 34 first-place votes and finished second in the balloting with 331 points. Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists while serving as a reserve in 74 of his 75 appearances this year.
Denver’s Tim Hardaway Jr. took third in the voting while Minnesota’s Naz Reid, Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart and New York’s Mitchell Robinson each received one first-place vote.
