Keldon Johnson's Spurs future may be determined quickly next season

The fate of San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson's future with the team is still a question mark, but perhaps not for long.

Johnson has yet to sign a contract extension and will seemingly enter this season without one. That raises questions about whether this could be his final year in San Antonio, and their offseason moves suggest it might be.

The Spurs extending Julian Champagnie and signing Tobias Harris all but end any chance of Johnson playing power forward this season. That could result in him having a decreased role, but by how much is still up in the air, at least for now.

We should have an idea early on just how big of a role he'll play next season. If he has a role similar to what he played last season, it suggests he might stick around through the end of this season. On the flip side, a smaller role would make him expendable at the trade deadline.

Keldon Johnson's Spurs' future may be determined quickly next season

At first glance, the writing may be on the wall with him set to pay behind Devin Vassell this season. That may be a good thing given that Johnson is more of a small forward.

On the other hand, he spent 16% of his minutes playing the four last season, according to Basketball Reference. That might not seem like a big deal, but based on his minutes per game last season, he'd only average around 19 minutes this season if he were to exclusively play the three.

For almost any other player, that would be a problem, but Johnson might actually make it work. Having an Energizer Bunny who can come in and outwork everyone on the floor is a great thing to have.

It's not like Johnson is a fringe rotation player playing hard to compensate for a lack of talent. He is plenty talented, and having a player like him is incredibly valuable, at least in the regular season.

Keldon Johnson will have to make do with less playing time

Not only does he play incredibly hard, he has largely been durable throughout his career. Actually, he played 105 games last year between the regular season and the playoffs.

Durability is key to a championship team, and he checks that box. The problem is that his skill set doesn't translate to the playoffs. A 6'8" version of Johnson would be a legit problem of opposing teams, but he's just 6'4", and talent and energy only get him so far.

Great teams have largely figured out how to stop him. Case in point, the Spurs faced the 12th, 8th, 1st, and 7th-ranked defenses during their playoff run, and Johnson unsurprisingly struggled against each team.

Thus, that's why the Spurs probably haven't extended him yet. Despite that, unless a big mid-season trade happens, he may ride out the year with the Spurs.

Hopefully, he will make do with less this season and help the Spurs win a championship, in what could be his last year in San Antonio.

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