While Keshad Johnson was one of the more impactful two-way wings with the Sioux Falls Skyforce last season, his role in a crowded wing room with the Miami Heat was fairly limited.
He appeared in just 16 games while totaling 98 minutes, scoring 43 points with 28 rebounds, five steals and four blocks. Johnson’s rookie campaign was highlighted by a 17-point, eight-rebound, two-steal game across 28 minutes in the regular season finale against the Washington Wizards, converting on seven of his nine field goal attempts and 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
After his five-game stint with the Heat in Summer League, the 24-year-old wing revealed his biggest goal heading into the 2025-26 season.
“The goal is to crack the Heat’s rotation and prove that I belong on the floor,” Johnson said, according to the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang. “I’m just a winner. Whatever that takes. Whether it’s three-and-D, whether it’s getting down there and bumping with bigger guys, whatever it takes. I’m just trying to be whatever puts the team in the best position to win. That’s who I am and that’s who I want to be.
“They’ve invested in me. So that must mean they see something in me. So I just got to prove them right, prove them right, make sure they didn’t make the wrong decision.”
What Keshad Johnson must do to crack Heat rotation:
Johnson averaged 17.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks on 63.0 percent true shooting in 32 combined G-League games last season, including 21.2 points and 8.3 rebounds on 55.2/39.6/79.5 shooting splits in 13 G-League Showcase games.
The 6-foot-7 wing had a pretty uneven second Summer League with Miami, averaging just 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks on 50.0 percent shooting in five games. He did shoot just 26.3 percent from beyond the arc (5-19), but converted on 11 of his 15 free-throw tries (73.3 percent) during his abbreviated stint.
At his best, Johnson is freakishly athletic, strong play finisher who’s an above-average rebounder and a rangy multi-positional defender. However, I think Johnson must continue to improve not only his 3-point shooting (consistency; he’s streaky), but his ball handling and self creation if he wants to make this rotation.
As of right now, I think he’s still on the outside-looking-in, but there’s a role for him on this team. In essence, he’s a bigger, more athletic — albeit more raw — Haywood Highsmith. Johnson will have to crawl past Highsmith, as well as Jaime Jaquez, Simone Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson, among others, for consistent rotation minutes.
Ultimately, he should get more run this season. He can be a complimentary piece, and the Heat must see what they have in him (among others) as he enters the final year of a two-year deal.
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hes got the perfect nba build u give that build to ty or dunc theyd be all stars.give that to me id be walking with a strut in my stride
oh yeah ty was an all star.apparently voters dont take d into account.i will be posting lot less w/o uncs d to praise
Hallelujah!
theres awalys tys d to critique but duncs d at times was funny to watch.some of his facial expressions and body flailing to nowhere when getting dunked on were very funny.im gonna miss dunc d at times he made me laugh at times cry.the worse defensive player ive ever seen rc.i really mean that eyes dont lie.youll like that line rc
If they did, there would be several brothers who would have never been selected all-stars. You know…the one way ones (Young, Brunson, Garland, Fox, J. Murray etc.).
He can dunk, that’s for certain. He’s got the right physical attributes, and the right attitude. But, this game has seen tons of players who could have made it but never did and sometimes it has to do with the subtle ability to create and finish on your outside and midrange shots, or basically any basket that’s not a dunk. If he can raise that part of his game, we can sure use him.
I think keshad has a chance, but has to show it, he has to show a consistent 3, reliably solid D, and good rebounding. Right now backup center is the rookie, but right now pf spot looking like a multiple player effort. Can’t trust nico at that spot, then we got small ball 4’s HH, tecc, and even Jaquez. If Johnson wants to Crack the rotation, then backup pf is his shot.
He can play both SF and PF. If he gets a shot at PF I hope he finds his mojo.
I hope so too🙏
True, that’s Keshod’s best fit. And, right now we can’t trust Nico. But, we have yet to see the bigger stronger version of Nico, and that might make a difference. I heard he bulked up. We shall see.
Need another young 2 way player, so I hope the bulking does make a difference.
I hope Keshad shines in training camp. He has the potential to be a solid rotation piece, but he needs to prove it.
I, like a few other’s here, have had high hopes for Johnson. His size, athleticism, strength, toughness, rebounding, character and respectable shooting gave us hope he would crack the rotation and possibly work himself into a starting position, perhaps by this season.
Unfortunately, unlike his teammate at Arizona, Pelle Larsson, Johnson received very little opportunity to play last year. He appeared in only 16 games and averaged only 6.1 minutes per game (mostly in garbage time).
I was disappointed to see Keshad’s performance drop in this year’s summer games. He seemed to be playing out of control and looked like he was trying hard to show leadership and not playing his regular hard nosed game.
If he does well in training camp, I expect him to get more minutes this year. Worst case scenario, he spends most of the season in Sioux Falls and is either traded or not extended when his current contract expires. For his sake, I hope we see his best before those decisions are made.
This summer league was a disappointment. I think this preseason is his last chance to prove himselves. I m not very optimistic.
Is his shooting respectable?
Yes and no. 42.9% 3 pt shooting for Heat in 2024-2025. 30.7% in Sioux Falls.