{"id":442063,"date":"2026-09-20T14:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442063\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T14:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:58:11","slug":"san-antonios-longest-tenured-spurs-shows-how-much-has-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442063\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio’s longest-tenured Spurs shows how much has changed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs’ rapid rebuild has made them one of the best in the NBA, with their longest-tenured player showing just how quickly things have changed. Long-time San Antonio Spurs player Keldon Johnson has played through three distinct Spurs eras.\n<\/p>\n

He was drafted during the tail end of the LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan era. He then became a key player during the rebuild years. Now, he is a crucial rotation player during the reign of Victor Wembanyama.\n<\/p>\n

Johnson bridging not one but three distinct Spurs eras illustrates how fast this team has transformed. Just seven years ago, San Antonio was scratching and clawing to make the play-in tournament only to fall short. Now, they are among the NBA’s elite.\n<\/p>\n

The Spurs have changed dramatically in the Keldon Johnson era<\/p>\n

It’s not just that Johnson has been with the Spurs for seven seasons; it’s that the Spurs have changed dramatically during his time with his team.\n<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe that seven years ago both DeRozan and Aldridge were still on the Spurs. That feels like a decade ago, especially with Wembanyama entering his fourth season. It only goes to show that rebuilds can happen surprisingly quickly.\n<\/p>\n

Sure, San Antonio had a franchise-long six-year playoff drought. However, that drought could have been even longer had San Antonio not lucked out and ended up with the first pick<\/a> in the 2023 NBA Draft.\n<\/p>\n

Remember, the other two options in that draft class were Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson. Miller at least looks like a potential feature All-Star, while Henderson hasn’t done much in his NBA career.\n<\/p>\n

Keldon Johnson is proof that the Spurs’ rebuild was a success<\/p>\n

Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Devin Vassell, are relics from an old Spurs era. Remember, Johnson is the last remaining player San Antonio drafted in the twenties and has certainly proven to be a great pick.\n<\/p>\n

It’s one thing to get a rotation player in the late twenties; it’s another to get someone who has reinvented himself several times and lasted seven seasons. Johnson may not be a perfect player but has proven to be surprisingly adaptable.\n<\/p>\n

When he was initially drafted, the hope was that he could be a three and D forward. Despite that, his 3-point shooting proved too volatile, and his defense was not reliable enough for that role.\n<\/p>\n

He later led the team in scoring only to come off the bench the next season. Now, after a couple of years refining his game, he is a Sixth Man of the Year winner and is entering his eighth season with the Spurs.\n<\/p>\n

Johnson’s development has perfectly mirrored the larger roster, with both having changed dramatically in a relatively short period of time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Spurs’ rapid rebuild has made them one of the best in the NBA, with their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-442063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}