Spurs: Addressing 5 Unanswered Questions Through 1st Quarter of Season


4. Will Gregg Popovich pull a 'Keldon Johnson' with Joshua Primo?
Keldon Johnson was inactive for the first 15 games of his NBA career as a rookie, instead spending time refining his game with the Austin Spurs. In fact, through 55 regular season games, he only played a total of about 12 minutes across four games played.
As frustrated as many are at the lack of Joshua Primo playing time despite how NBA-ready he already looks, he's already on a quicker trajectory toward playing regularly than Johnson was in 2019. Keldon didn't play double-figure minutes in a game until game 56 of his rookie season while Primo logged 12 minutes in game 19 and 18 in game 22.
THIS HUSTLE ?@Dwhite921 ➡️ @JoshuaPrimo4 pic.twitter.com/unPd8Mdbvg
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 7, 2021
After an impressive showing against the Phoenix Suns in which he recorded a game-high four blocks, Primo mentioned how his development in Austin is paying dividends in the NBA. I wouldn't expect him to become a regular rotation player that soon, especially with Devin Vassell's return on the horizon, but there is precedent for that happening sooner than expected, as it did with Johnson.