By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-05-02 21:00:00
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
凯尔登的数据或许并不亮眼，但它们无法完整展现他对马刺的价值。
欢迎来到Pounding the Rock的2024-25赛季球员回顾！本系列将关注那些与 圣安东尼奥马刺 签有保障合同，并且出场时间可观或扮演重要角色的球员（因此不包括双向合同球员，因为我们今年几乎没怎么看到他们，也不包括被交易走的球员）。
凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)
2024-25赛季数据：12.7分，4.8篮板，1.6助攻，投篮命中率48.2%
合同状态：剩余2年，3500万美元
年龄：25岁
乍一看，凯尔登的数据在这个赛季并不令人印象深刻。事实上，与近几个赛季相比，这些数据显得非常平庸，更像是2020-21赛季的数据，那只是他在NBA的第二个赛季，也是他第一次真正扮演重要角色，而且他大部分时间都是首发阵容中的第三或第四选择，当时的首发阵容还包括德马尔·德罗赞、德章泰·穆雷和拉马库斯·阿尔德里奇。如果你只看他的数据，而没有真正看过这个赛季的马刺比赛，你可能会这样说：
本赛季每支球队最令人失望的球员——
你同意吗？ pic.twitter.com/RrSqr7bdus
— Hoop Central (@ TheHoopCentral) 2025年4月15日
然而，如果你看了比赛（并且注意到了），你会知道这些数据本身具有误导性。或许有些人期望约翰逊成为2022-23赛季的他自己，当时他是首发球员，也是球队在“摆烂文班”赛季中的头号得分手，但现在他被要求扮演的角色已经不同了。在他的职业生涯中，他第一次没有首发过一场比赛。相反，他心甘情愿地从替补席出发，打出了自新秀赛季以来的最低总上场时间（场均仅23.9分钟），尽管他出战了职业生涯最高的77场比赛。
考虑到这一点，如果你参考他本赛季的每36分钟数据，这些数据与他作为首发时的典型输出完全一致，为19.2分，7.3个篮板和2.3次助攻。除了他的新秀赛季（当时他只打了17场比赛，并在奥兰多复赛中一鸣惊人）之外，他打出了职业生涯最高的48.2%的投篮命中率，以及迄今为止他在禁区内最好的57.3%的命中率，同时做着他最擅长的事情：充满激情和活力地比赛，同时利用他强壮的身体冲击内线。
当然，这并不是说他度过了一个伟大的赛季。他的三分球命中率创下了职业生涯最差的31.8%，而且他仍然容易出现一些得分荒，有时会连续一周左右没有得分上双的比赛。但总的来说，他是一位非常可靠的第六人，并且打破了马努·吉诺比利在2007-08赛季获得最佳第六人奖时创造的替补席上获得927分的球队纪录。事实上，约翰逊是本赛季整个NBA替补席上的第三号得分手，如果马刺拥有一个胜率更高的战绩，他可能真的会被考虑竞争这个奖项。这并不是他有史以来最好的赛季，但肯定不是数据观察者会让你相信的那种糟糕的赛季。
前景展望
随着工资帽的增加（而且还会再次增加），凯尔登的合同变得越来越划算，他仍然拥有一份对球队非常有利的合同。虽然他仍然是马刺在重新进入交易市场时最好的筹码之一，但除非目标是增加另一位超级巨星，否则他们可能不会积极地兜售他（正如凯文·杜兰特和扬尼斯·安特托昆博的传闻甚嚣尘上——但这并不能保证马刺会为了他们而抵押大部分年轻核心）。
即便如此，只要他仍然是一名马刺球员，约翰逊很可能会期待一个类似的角色，而且他很可能会继续拥抱它。他是球队中效力时间最长的球员，也是更衣室的核心和灵魂。他的能量具有感染力，他的队友们都喜欢他。我总是会想起2021年东京奥运会，当时人们嘲笑他入选美国队，认为这是格雷格·波波维奇裙带关系的体现，但德雷蒙德·格林为他辩护，称他的热情和开朗的个性在如此艰难和孤独的时期对球队来说是多么重要。（提醒一下，那也是一个隔离区，球队只有彼此。）
与往常一样，凯尔登还有一些可以改进的地方，比如稳定性和他的三分球投篮。（我个人怀疑他本赛季是否调整了一些机制，因为他投出的标志性的“彩虹”三分球变少了，这些球在回到屏幕上之前就已经飞出画面了。）但是，任何低估他对球队的贡献的人，都低估了拥有一个团结的更衣室的意义。他远不是这份名单上最好或最有天赋的球员，但他对球队文化的重要性与任何人都一样。你可以说我是凯尔登的铁杆粉丝，但如果他真的离开了马刺，他会得到一篇来自我的“感谢”文章。
最佳表现
2月21日对阵底特律活塞：28分，11投11中，4篮板，5助攻
最终评分：B
下一篇： 哈里森·巴恩斯
此前回顾：
点击查看原文：2024-25 Spurs Player Reviews: Keldon Johnson
2024-25 Spurs Player Reviews: Keldon Johnson
Keldon’s numbers may not jump off the page, but they don’t tell the full story of what he brings to the Spurs.
Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2024-25 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, and no players who were traded away).
Keldon Johnson
2024-25 stats: 12.7 points, 4.8 rebounds. 1.6 assists, 48.2 FG%
Contract Status: 2 years, $35 million remaining
Age: 25
At first glance, Keldon Johnson’s stats for this season don’t look impressive. In fact, they look downright measly compared to recent seasons and more on par with 2020-21, which was just his second season in the NBA, his first with a true role, and he spent most of it as the third or fourth option in a starting lineup that also featured DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray and LaMarcus Aldridge. If you just look at his numbers but didn’t actually watch the Spurs this season, you’d probably say something like this:
Every team’s most disappointing player this season —
Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/RrSqr7bdus— Hoop Central (@ TheHoopCentral) April 15, 2025
However, if you did watch (and paid attention), you’d know those numbers on their own are misleading. Perhaps some people expect Johnson to be the 2022-23 version of himself, when he was a starter and the team’s leading scorer in the “Tank for Wemby” season, but that’s not the role that is being asked of him anymore. For the first time in his career, he did not start a single game. Instead, he willingly came off the bench, posting his lowest total minutes (and minutes per game at just 23.9) since his rookie season despite playing in a career-high 77 games.
With that in mind, if you refer to his per 36 minutes stats for this season, they are perfectly in line with his typical output when he was starter at 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Outside of his rookie season (when he only played in 17 games and burst onto the scene in the Orlando Bubble), he hit a career-high 48.2% from the field and by far his best from inside the arc at 57.3%, all while doing what he does best: play with heart and hustle while using his big body to crash into the paint.
Of course, none of this is to say he had a great season. He shot a career-worst 31.8% from three, and he was still prone to some dry stretches, sometimes going a week or so at a time without a double-digit scoring game. But overall, he was a very solid sixth man and actually broke Manu Ginobili’s franchise record of 927 points off the bench from his Sixth Man of the Year award-winning season in 2007-08. In fact, Johnson was the third leading scorer off the bench in the entire NBA this season, and if the Spurs had a winning record, he may have actually been considered for the award. This wasn’t his best season ever, but it certainly wasn’t the bad one stat watchers would have you believe.
Looking ahead
Keldon remains on an extremely team-friendly deal that looks better and better each year as it decreases while the cap increases (and it will again). While he is still one of the Spurs’ best bargaining chips if they revisit the trade market, they probably won’t be actively shopping him unless the goal is to add another superstar (as Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors heat up — not that there’s any guarantee the Spurs will mortgage most of their young core for them).
That being said, as long as he’s still a Spur, Johnson can probably expect a similar role going forward, and he will likely continue to embrace it. He’s their longest tenured player and the heart and soul of the locker room. His energy is contagious, and his teammates love him. I always think back to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when people mocked his inclusion on Team USA, referring to it as nepotism on Gregg Popovich’s part, but Draymond Green came to his defense, stating how important his enthusiasm and jovial personality was to the team during such trying, lonely times. (As a reminder, that was also a bubble, and the team only had each other.)
Per usual, there are areas Keldon can improve, such as consistency and his three-point shot. (I personally wonder if he had some mechanics tweaked this season, as he shot fewer of his signature “rainbow” threes that would leave the TV screen before coming back down.) But anyone who undervalues what he brings to the team underestimates what having a united locker room means. He’s far from the best or most talented player on this roster, but he is just as important to the culture of the team as anyone. Call me a Keldon Stan, but if he ever does leave the Spurs, he’ll be getting a “thank you” article from yours truly.
Top Performance
February 21 vs. Detroit Pistons: 28 points, 11-13 shooting, 4 rebounds, 5 assists
Final Grade: B
Up next: Harrison Barnes
Previous Reviews:
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock