By Michael C. Wright, 2026-04-28 19:00:00
在凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 的牧场上， 石灰岩与锻铁筑成的大门缓缓开启，一条铺设好的单行道蜿蜒上坡，在山顶附近分岔。右侧的围栏边，大约20只迷你山羊在宽阔的牧场上欢快地嬉戏，与五头高地牛、一只鸡、一头名叫“矮子” (El Chapo) 的迷你驴、两匹马（身上带斑点的白马“木木” (MuMu) 和全棕色的“森林” (Forest)），以及一对在复活节周末刚刚购入、名叫“邦妮” (Bonnie) 和“克莱德” (Clyde) 的羊驼和谐共处。
沿着山坡向右远眺，是一个巨大的池塘，分浅水区和深水区。约翰逊最近扩建了池塘，以便能放下一艘小船。新建的木制码头俯瞰着这个刚刚投放了锦鲤、大口黑鲈、莓鲈和鲶鱼的池塘。
在主屋附近，两只狗正安详地趴着，在德克萨斯州伯尼市阴天里转瞬即逝的阳光下打盹。
大院里的另外两栋小房子住着朋友和家人。
“对我来说，这里就是世外桃源，”约翰逊告诉 ESPN。
约翰逊的这片“宁静之地”（他自己这么称呼它）位于圣安东尼奥市中心西北约 35 英里处。目前这片地产有一个绰号（为了保密位置，我们在此不予透露），但他计划有一天会更改这个名字。在大门上方，装饰着这位前锋的“KJ”标志（其中的“J”看起来也像约翰逊的 3 号球衣）。
在牧场上，约翰逊的家人和朋友们正帮助这位有着七年球龄的老将打理这片 22 英亩土地的日常生活。这其中包括他的哥哥凯莱布·约翰逊 (Kaleb Johnson)——他曾在乔治城大学打球，随后在 NBA G 联盟有过短暂职业生涯；他的叔叔罗布·弗格森 (Rob Ferguson)；绰号“泰” (Tae) 的马克塔维斯·霍姆斯 (Marctavious Holmes)；绰号“托恩” (Tone) 的贾托恩·苏厄德 (Jatone Seward) 以及杰克 (Jake)。如果约翰逊能买下他一直看中的附近另外 80 英亩土地，这片房产很快就会扩建。
这里总有干不完的活：修筑和修补围栏，找回跑出领地的动物。还要营救那些总喜欢把头卡在围栏洞里的山羊，以及大量的蛇类控制工作——这个问题让约翰逊和他的亲友们学会了如何正确储存所有的动物饲料袋。约翰逊兄弟中的大哥凯尔·约翰逊 (Kyle Johnson) 正在休假探亲，他服役于美国空军，驻扎在华盛顿州斯波坎附近，负责为喷气式飞机进行空中加油。
就像凯尔登在 NBA 的职业生涯一样，整个团队仍在摸索牧场上的一切。同样像凯尔登一样，这群人吵闹而慷慨，每分钟都充满欢笑，散发着积极的能量。
约翰逊和他的伙伴们坐在一辆定制的哑光黑道奇双后轮皮卡车斗上，穿着卡哈特 (Carhartt) 装备，脚蹬牛仔靴或做成牛仔靴样式的洞洞鞋，讨论着这位 26 岁球员竞选年度最佳第六人的前景。在兴头上，约翰逊随口说出，他可能会给每个人买一块劳力士手表来庆祝这一时刻。
“把这段记下来，”约翰逊的一个朋友说，“这可是有记录的。”
和约翰逊本人一样，这座牧场尚未完工。作为 2019 年 NBA 选秀的第 29 顺位秀，约翰逊正在适应他从未设想过的替补角色，这已经是他担任该角色的第二个赛季。这一转变不仅为这支 NBA 近期最炙手可热的球队之一铺平了通往整体成功的道路，让他获得了首次季后赛经验，还让他收获了个人奖项——联盟年度最佳第六人。
约翰逊和圣安东尼奥马刺队只要在周二的第五场比赛中击败波特兰开拓者队（东部时间晚上 9:30，ESPN 直播），就能晋级第二轮。
“（作为首发时）我场均能得到 22 分，取得了一些个人成功，”约翰逊说，“我拿过（奥运会）金牌。但我意识到，如果你想留在这里，有时你必须放下你的自尊。圣安东尼奥是我想要待的地方。”
“我不会为了任何东西改变现状。我有机会成为某些特别事物的一部分。他们比我更早看到了大局。但我很庆幸也很幸运能够经历这一切，在其中茁壮成长并享受乐趣。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋凯尔登·约翰逊在周三被评为年度最佳第六人。他是马刺队史上第二位获此殊荣的球员，加入了名人堂后卫马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 的行列，后者曾在 2007-08 赛季获奖。 Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
在经历了作为马刺首发的第三个赛季 (2022-23) 之后，约翰逊认为自己终于找到了节奏。时任美国队主帅的马刺前教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 非常看重约翰逊那种极具感染力的能量，因此带他参加了 2021 年东京奥运会。在那届奥运会上，他仅出场 3 场比赛，场均得到 1.3 分，出场 6.7 分钟。
约翰逊在奥运会期间负责音乐和氛围，他这样总结道：“我就是 DJ，负责调动大家的积极性，尽我的一份力。那次经历可能是最棒的经历之一。我可以和那些顶级球星待在一起，向他们请教。这确实帮助塑造了我的职业生涯。”
现在，轮到约翰逊在自己的球队中担任主角了。他在 2022-23 赛季做到了这一点，在 63 场首发中场均得到职业生涯最高的 22 分。但圣安东尼奥最终仅取得 22 胜 60 负的战绩，连续第四个赛季无缘季后赛。
在接下来的赛季，也就是法国天才维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的新秀赛季，约翰逊首发了 26 场比赛。但在圣诞节前两天的某个早晨，在达拉斯的一次球队会议前，波波维奇把约翰逊拉到一边，传达了一个令人震惊的消息。
“波波只是说，他认为让我打替补对球队最好，”约翰逊说，“我当时就想，‘没问题。教练，我信任你。只要你觉得是最好的安排，我都会全力以赴。’”
然而，在内心深处，约翰逊起初也曾挣扎过。
“在那一刻，这确实有点像是一种冲击，我想，‘好吧，我得搞清楚这到底是怎么回事，’”他说，“但我最终完全接受了。你看这一年过得怎么样，简直不可思议。”
圣安东尼奥 62 胜 20 负的常规赛战绩证明了这一点，约翰逊获得的最佳第六人奖项也是如此。他成为了马刺队史上第一位单赛季替补出场得分达到 1000 分的球员。他现在是第二位赢得该奖项的圣安东尼奥球员，加入了名人堂成员马努·吉诺比利的行列。
在过去的 202 场常规赛中，约翰逊有 201 场是替补出场，其中包括过去两个赛季的 159 场。
“我觉得这证明了我的努力，证明了我对自己、对我所热爱的事业的奉献，”约翰逊告诉 ESPN，“这并不总是那么容易。但这从未阻止过我，从未让我偏离航向。我只是找到了一种方法，让自己每天都成为最好的凯尔登·约翰逊。获得年度最佳第六人就是对此的证明，也是对我的支持团队、对马刺队以及他们对我的信任和信心的证明。”
在客场的大多数晚上，约翰逊 走进球馆时都会提着一个行李袋或蜘蛛侠行李箱，里面塞满了各种品牌、口味和强度的赛前能量粉罐。约翰逊通常会冲一杯赛前饮料，让自己在比赛之夜获得额外的能量。有时他甚至会向马刺队的装备经理尼科·法兹 (Nico Faz) 订购咖啡，以便在比赛期间啜饮。
其实约翰逊并不真的需要额外的能量。在西部季后赛首轮第一场比赛前，他兴奋得连赛前饮料都省了。
波波维奇在约翰逊的新秀赛季就立刻发现了这种火花。约翰逊在第一个赛季仅代表马刺出战 17 场，首发 1 场。那年他大部分时间都在圣安东尼奥的 G 联盟下属球队奥斯汀马刺队度过。尽管如此，每当约翰逊出现在圣安东尼奥马刺队时，波波维奇都想从这位当时只有 19 岁的年轻人身上看到更多东西——波波维奇曾带他去第一次尝试吃生蚝。
“在某个阶段，波波说，‘好吧，他需要待在球队身边。他有太多的正能量和极具感染力的性格，我们现在正需要这个，’”马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道，他在凯尔登·约翰逊的新秀赛季担任波波维奇手下的第一年助理教练。“接下来的事情你就知道了，他带着一个大音响，放着玛丽亚·凯莉的歌。拉马库斯·阿尔德里奇 (LaMarcus Aldridge) 和德马尔·德罗赞 (DeMar DeRozan) 都在想，‘这孩子到底是谁？’”
阿尔德里奇是一位曾于 2015 年至 2021 年在圣安东尼奥效力的七届全明星球员，他对约翰逊作为新秀时展现出的自信印象深刻。
“他很有竞争心，身体强壮，而且足够自信，即使别人不喜欢，他也会坚持自己喜欢的，”阿尔德里奇告诉 ESPN，“他足够自信，可以按照自己想要的方式行事，但从不冒犯任何人。他的出发点总是好的能量和好的意图。”
马刺队总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 在约翰逊还没在肯塔基大学打过一秒钟大学篮球之前就看中了他。
“我记得凯尔登在（2018 年）麦当劳全美高中明星赛训练中的表现，”莱特告诉 ESPN，“那些训练有时会让你看出谁是那一届的领头羊。那里有顶级的竞争者和顶级的才华，当把他们都聚在球馆里时，他们有时会打闹嬉戏。但其中包含竞争的部分，那是训练和对抗赛中最突出的一点。在竞争方面，他就是一个领头羊，他一直在紧逼对手。我记得凯尔登一直在向那一届最顶尖的新秀们发起挑战。”
此外，约翰逊还有极具个性的一面。
在西部季后赛首轮第二场输给开拓者队后，约翰逊在更衣柜前静静地穿衣服，手机里放着詹姆斯·阿瑟 (James Arthur) 的《Say You Won’t Let Go》。对于一个经常在赛前把印有马刺标志的大音响扛在肩上、在更衣室里大声播放从扬·道夫 (Young Dolph) 到麦莉·赛勒斯 (Miley Cyrus) 的《Party in the USA》以及瓦妮莎·卡尔顿 (Vanessa Carlton) 的《A Thousand Miles》的人来说，这并不寻常。
几乎在每场比赛前，约翰逊都会把蓝牙音箱放在更衣室入口附近，调到最大音量，然后跑向球场进行赛前热身，留下更衣室里的其他人去应对震耳欲聋的音乐。
“KJ 每天都是同一个人，”马刺后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 说，“在练习中，无论他打得好坏，他总是能给人以鼓舞。所以，当他打出精彩表现时，我们很容易给予回报，因为他经常有这样的表现。当你拥有那种极具感染力的能量时，它会感染整个球馆，感染整个球队。它能让每个人都兴奋起来。”
约翰逊自封为马刺更衣室的 DJ，经常扛着一个印有马刺标志的音箱在赛前大声播放音乐。 Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
回到约翰逊于 2022 年购买的牧场， 弗格森靠在围栏上，凝视着牧场，马刺前锋正被一群迷你山羊围着撒饲料。迷你驴“矮子”在追逐了“邦妮”、“克莱德”以及“木木”和“森林”一整天后正一瘸一拐地走着，天边隐约可见雨意。
凯尔登曾问过弗格森：“如果我成功了，你会跟我一起走吗？”弗格森毫不犹豫地答应了。现在，他是牧场上的非正式兽医（约翰逊后来请了一位真正的兽医），负责先帮“矮子”检查一下。弗格森还承担了非正式厨师和烧烤大师的角色，为牧场上那些想吃更有“灵魂”的餐点的人服务，而不是约翰逊的私人厨师准备的更健康的伙食——约翰逊的朋友们更喜欢后者。弗格森告诉凯尔·约翰逊，他已经准备好了牙买加风味烤鸡和黄米饭作为晚餐。
“我的伙伴们，我的家人，我的妈妈（罗谢尔·约翰逊 (Rochelle Johnson)）、我的爸爸（克里斯·约翰逊 (Chris Johnson)）、我最好的朋友们，他们让我在牧场打理好一切成为了可能，”凯尔登·约翰逊说，“他们是我所做事业的重要组成部分。没有他们，这一切都不可能实现。我们有很多客场比赛，有很多漫长的日子，甚至有些日子我累得只想躺在床上。他们就在这里干活。他们让这一切成为可能。我对他们的感激之情无以言表。”
除夕夜，约翰逊在牧场招待了一些队友。文班亚马还没来过，但约翰逊知道这位法国人“一定会喜欢的”。
“我们做了很多工作，”他说，“我们刚刚完工了池塘。我在这里能找到宁静。我能享受和动物们在一起的时光。我的队友们知道，这里永远对大家开放。有些人喜欢这里，有些人不喜欢。但我觉得无论谁来到这里，他们都能找到自己的乐趣，找到自己的宁静。”
约翰逊的牧场很像他在马刺更衣室里创造的文化。这是一个安全的空间，一个大家可以聚在一起、欢笑并做真实自我的地方。
这里的玩笑层出不穷，比如有一次约翰逊告诉佛罗里达州立大学校友德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell)，塞米诺尔人足球队重新在全国成名的机会比“在水下抽烟”还要渺茫。
在 Frost Bank 中心以及客场球馆昏暗的走廊里，在大多数比赛前，马刺队球员都会随着约翰逊音箱里传出的音乐唱歌或说唱，并参加通常被称为“达克舞” (Dak Dance) 的活动。这个舞蹈得名于达拉斯牛仔队四分卫达克·普雷斯科特 (Dak Prescott)，基于他的热身动作，即爆发性地扭动髋部，模拟传球动作。
“我们允许每个人做真实的自己，”约翰逊说，“每支球队都需要角色球员。每一支伟大的球队，每一支赢得过冠军的球队，都有了解自己角色并在这些角色中发光发热的人。这没什么不好的。我完全不介意成为文班、斯蒂芬（卡斯尔）或（德阿隆）福克斯身边的角色球员。每天准时出现，带来能量，这就是我的工作。这就是我喜欢做的事情。我们都允许彼此做自己，以自己的方式成长。这就是让我们这个群体紧密团结的原因。我们在场上和场下都建立了联系。我们喜欢欢笑和开玩笑。我们喜欢这种没有评判的氛围。”
就像在牧场上漫步的每一个人一样。
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。
点击查看原文：Keldon Johnson's move to the bench kick-started San Antonio's resurgence
Keldon Johnson’s move to the bench kick-started San Antonio’s resurgence
THE LIMESTONE AND wrought iron gate at Keldon Johnson’s ranch opens to a single paved road crawling up a hill that splits into divergent paths near the top. Along a fence line on the right, approximately 20 miniature goats play gleefully on a spacious pasture in harmony with five Highland cows, a chicken, a mini donkey (named El Chapo), two horses (MuMu, white with patches, and Forest, all brown), and a pair of llamas named Bonnie and Clyde, who were acquired recently, over Easter weekend.
Farther up the hill to the right lies a massive pond with shallow and deep ends that Johnson recently had expanded to accommodate a small boat. A newly constructed wooden dock overlooks the freshly stocked pond full of koi, bass, crappie and catfish.
Near the main house, two dogs lie peacefully on their stomachs basking in the fleeting sun of an overcast day in Boerne, Texas.
Two smaller homes on the compound house friends and family.
“For me, it’s utopia,” Johnson told ESPN.
Located a little more than 35 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio, Johnson’s “peace” as he calls it, currently carries a nickname (we won’t disclose it here so as not to identify its location) that he plans to change someday, above a gate adorned with the forward’s KJ logo (the J also looks like Johnson’s jersey No. 3).
On the ranch, Johnson’s family and friends, including his older brother Kaleb, who played college basketball at Georgetown before a short career in the NBA G League, his uncle Rob Ferguson, Marctavious Holmes (nicknamed “Tae”), Jatone Seward (nicknamed “Tone”) and Jake help the seventh-year veteran navigate day-to-day life at the 22-acre ranch. The property could soon expand if Johnson can purchase an additional 80 acres nearby that he has been eyeing.
There’s fence building and mending, retrieving loose animals that roam off the property. There’s rescuing the goats, which tend to get their heads stuck in the holes in the fencing, and plenty of snake control, an issue that taught Johnson and his friends and family how to properly store all the bags of feed for the animals. Kyle, the eldest of the Johnson brothers, is visiting the ranch on leave from the Air Force, where he’s stationed near Spokane, Washington, serving on a flight crew that refuels jets midair.
Like Keldon in his NBA career, the whole crew is still figuring out everything on the ranch. Also like Keldon, the crew is loud and gregarious, a laugh-a-minute, positive energy manifested.
Sitting on the bed of a custom, flat-black Dodge dually pickup truck, clad in an assortment of Carhartt gear and cowboy boots or Crocs made to look like cowboy boots, Johnson and his crew are discussing the 26-year old’s candidacy for Sixth Man of the Year. Caught in the moment, Johnson lets slip that he might buy them all Rolex watches to celebrate the occasion.
“Write that down,” one of Johnson’s friends says. “That’s on the record.”
Like Johnson, this ranch isn’t yet a finished product. Johnson, the 29th pick of the 2019 NBA draft, is settling into his second season in a role off the bench that he never envisioned, one that has paved the way for overall success for one of the NBA’s hottest teams and his first postseason experience, while yielding individual hardware as the league’s Sixth Man of the Year.
Johnson and the San Antonio Spurs can advance to the second round with a win in Tuesday’s Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
“I was averaging 22 points [as a starter], had some individual success,” Johnson said. "I’ve been [an Olympic] gold medalist. But I realized that if you want to be here, sometimes you’ve got to remove your ego. San Antonio is a place I wanted to be.
“I wouldn’t change it for the world. I get an opportunity to be a part of something special. They saw the bigger picture before I did. But I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to go through it, thrive in it and have fun with it.”
San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson was named Sixth Man of the Year on Wednesday. He is the second Spur to win the award, joining Hall of Fame guard Manu Ginobli, who won in 2007-08. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
AFTER HIS THIRD season as a Spurs starter (2022-23), Johnson thought he had finally caught a groove. Former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, then coach of Team USA, thought highly enough of Johnson’s infectious energy to bring him along to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where he played in just three games, averaging 1.3 points and 6.7 minutes.
Johnson oversaw the music and vibes at the Olympics, summing it up like this: “I was the DJ, just hyping the guys up, trying to pull my weight. That experience was probably one of the best. I got to hang out with the guys, really pick their brains. It really helped mold my career.”
Now it was time for Johnson to star on his own team. He did that in the 2022-23 season, averaging a career-high 22 points in 63 starts. But San Antonio finished with a 22-60 record and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
Johnson would start in 26 games the next season, which was French phenom Victor Wembanyama’s rookie campaign. But one morning two days before Christmas, Popovich pulled Johnson aside before a team meeting in Dallas and delivered a stunning message.
“Pop was just saying that he thought it would be best for the team for me to come off the bench,” Johnson said. “I was just like, ‘Whatever. I trust you, Coach. Whatever you feel like is best, I’ll do that full-fledged.’”
Internally, though, Johnson struggled initially.
“In the moment, it was kind of like a shock, like, ‘All right, I’ve got to figure this out,’” he said. “But I just bought into it. You see how the year is going. It’s amazing.”
San Antonio’s 62-20 regular-season record backs that up, as does Johnson’s Sixth Man award. He became the first Spur in franchise history to score at least 1,000 points off the bench in a season. He’s now the second San Antonio player to win the award, joining Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili.
Johnson has come off the bench in 201 of his past 202 regular-season games, including 159 over the past two seasons.
“I feel like it’s just a testament to the hard work, the dedication that I’ve had to myself, to doing what I love to do,” Johnson told ESPN. “It hasn’t always been easy. But it never deterred me, never steered me away. I just found a way to be the best Keldon Johnson each and every day. Being Sixth Man of the Year is just a testament to that, to my supporting cast, to the Spurs and how much they’ve trusted and believed in me.”
JOHNSON STROLLS INTO arenas most nights on the road carrying a duffel bag or Spider-Man suitcase stuffed full of canisters of pre-workout powders of different brands, flavors and strengths. Johnson usually mixes up a pre-workout drink to give himself an extra jolt of energy on game nights. He sometimes even submits orders to Spurs equipment manager Nico Faz for coffee to sip during games.
It’s not like Johnson really needs the extra energy. He was so excited for Game 1 of the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs that he skipped his pre-workout drink.
Popovich identified that spark immediately during Johnson’s rookie season. Johnson played just 17 games with the Spurs in his first season and started one game. He spent most of that year with San Antonio’s G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. Still, every time Johnson graced the San Antonio Spurs with his presence, Popovich wanted to see more from the then-19-year-old he once took out for his first experience eating oysters.
“At a certain stage, Pop said, ‘Well, he needs to be around the team. He’s got too much positive energy and too good of an infectious personality, and we need that right now,’” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, who was a first-year assistant under Popovich during Keldon Johnson’s rookie season. “Next thing you know, he was bringing a boom box bumping Mariah Carey. LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan are like, ‘Who the hell is this kid?’”
A seven-time All-Star who played in San Antonio from 2015 to 2021, Aldridge was impressed with Johnson’s confidence in his own skin as a rookie.
“He was competitive, physical and confident enough to like what he liked even if everyone else didn’t,” Aldridge told ESPN. “He was confident enough to move how he wanted to move, but [he] never offended anyone. It was always done with good energy and good intentions.”
Spurs general manager Brian Wright scoped that out before Johnson ever played a second of college basketball at the University of Kentucky.
“I remember Keldon in the McDonald’s All American practices [in 2018],” Wright told ESPN. “Those practices will sometimes show you who the alpha of the class is. There are marquee competitors and marquee talent, and when you get them all in the gym, they mess around a little bit. But there’s a competitive part, and that was the one thing that stood out in the practices and scrimmage. He was an alpha in terms of competing, and he was getting after people. The top prospects in the class, I remember Keldon going at them.”
Then, there’s that side of Johnson brimming with personality.
After San Antonio’s loss to the Trail Blazers in Game 2 of the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs, Johnson quietly dressed at his locker listening to James Arthur’s “Say You Won’t Let Go” on his phone. That’s not uncommon for a man who often carries a massive speaker emblazoned with the Spurs logo on his shoulder in the locker room before games, blasting everything from Young Dolph to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” and Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.”
Before nearly every game, Johnson places the Bluetooth speaker near the entrance of the locker room, cranks it to the max, and then runs out to the court for his pregame warmup, leaving everyone in the locker room to deal with the deafening music.
“KJ, he’s the same guy every day,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “In practice, whether he’s having a good game, bad game, he’s always uplifting. So, it’s easy for us to return the favor when he’s having his nights because he has a lot of them. When you have that contagious energy, it just feeds the arena, feeds the team. It kind of gets everybody going.”
Johnson is the self-proclaimed DJ in the Spurs locker room and often carries a speaker with a Spurs logo to blast music before games. Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
BACK AT THE ranch, which Johnson purchased in 2022, Ferguson leans against the fence staring out at the pasture as the Spurs forward scatters feed surrounded by the mini goats. El Chapo, the mini donkey, is limping after chasing Bonnie and Clyde all day along with MuMu and Forest, and rain is visible on the horizon.
Keldon once asked Ferguson if he’d “come with me if I make it all the way.” Ferguson didn’t hesitate. Now, he’s the unofficial veterinarian (Johnson later called a real vet) on the ranch tasked with taking a first look at El Chapo. Ferguson also assumes the role of unofficial cook and grill master for the people at the ranch who are interested in eating more soulful meals, as opposed to the healthier fare prepared by Johnson’s chef, which is preferred by his friends. Ferguson tells Kyle Johnson that he’s got jerk chicken and yellow rice ready for dinner.
“My guys, man, my family, my mom [Rochelle Johnson], my dad [Chris Johnson], my best friends, they all make it possible for me to be able to upkeep everything out here at the ranch,” Keldon Johnson said. “They’re a big part of what I do. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible. We’ve got a lot of games on the road, a lot of long days and even days when I’m tired just lying in bed. They’re out here working. They’re here making it all possible. I couldn’t thank them enough for that.”
On New Year’s Eve, Johnson hosted some of his teammates at the ranch. Wembanyama still hasn’t visited, but Johnson knows the Frenchman “would love it.”
“We’ve been doing a lot of work,” he said. “We just got the pond finished. I get to find my peace out here. I get to enjoy the animals. My teammates know that it’s always an open invite for everybody. Some people love it. Some people don’t. But I feel like whoever comes out here, they can find their niche and find their peace out here.”
Johnson’s ranch is much like the culture he has created in the Spurs locker room. It’s a safe space, a place where everybody can congregate, laugh and be themselves.
The jokes are endless, like the time Johnson told Florida State alum Devin Vassell that he’d “have a better chance of smoking a cigarette under water” than the Seminoles football team returning to national prominence.
In the dark hallways at Frost Bank Center, as well as arenas on the road, before most games the Spurs sing or rap to the music blaring from Johnson’s speaker and take part in what’s commonly called the “Dak Dance,” named after Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and based on his warmup routine in which he explodes his hips as if to simulate a pass.
“We allow everybody to be themselves,” Johnson said. “Every team needs role players. Every great team, every team that’s won championships, they have people that know their roles and star in those roles. There’s nothing wrong with that. I have no problem being a role player to Vic, to Steph [Castle], to [De’Aaron] Fox. Showing up every day, bringing the energy, that’s my job. That’s what I enjoy doing. We all allow each other to be ourselves and grow in our own ways. That’s what makes our group close. We bond on and off the court. We enjoy laughing and joking. We enjoy being a judge-free zone.”
Just like everybody roaming the ranch.
By Michael C. Wright, via ESPN