4 San Antonio Spurs who improved their trade value in 2023

4. Keldon Johnson

After San Antonio traded Dejounte Murray last summer, Keldon Johnson instantly became the longest-tenured Spur on the roster. It is hard to believe that a fourth-year player has been with the organization longer than anyone else after decades of consistency with the Big Three, but such is the reality of being a rebuilding team.

Keldon entered this season with the biggest window of opportunity of his career, with he and Devin Vassell being the go-to options on the team. KJ took that opportunity and ran with it, leading the Spurs in scoring and averaging over 20 points per game for the first time in his career. His numbers were also boosted a bit by the fact that Vassell missed a large chunk of the year due to injury.

One of the only things Johnson did not improve on was shooting accuracy. After nailing nearly 40% of his threes in 2021-22, he regressed to a 32% clip this season, albeit on roughly one more attempt per game. His chances of ever becoming a legitimate number one scoring option appear to be slim at this point, but he still showed his game is maturing.

The Spurs will likely want to keep Keldon Johnson around as a secondary scoring option next to their new lottery pick. Going forward, he might be in a good position to thrive offensively while defenses are giving him less attention than they were this season.