Nets Swingman Keon Johnson Reflects on Past Season's Growth

Brooklyn Nets swingman Keon Johnson broke down his 2024-25 season at his end-of-year media appearance.

“It was a great opportunity for me to get out and kind of reinvent myself just coming off of a year where I was in the G League and being able to show how I can compete and play at a high level in the NBA,” he said. 

Johnson averaged a career-high 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists this season. He made 31.4% of his threes, which is improvable, but raising his volume from two attempts per game to 5.1 downtown shots a night. Johnson appeared in 79 games, also a career-best, and started 56 of them while averaging 24.4 minutes for head coach Jordi Fernández.

“I really wouldn't say I would have known that I would have played this much, but I kind of prepared myself to be able to play as much or be able to play whenever,” he said. “Going into this past off-season, my big priority was just being in tip-top shape, just pretty much staying ready for whatever is thrown at me.”

Johnson was initially signed by the Nets to a two-way contract on Nov. 1, 2023 coming off a stint with the LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers. His two-way was eventually elevated into a standard, multi-year deal in July 2024. Johnson had been the 21st pick in the 2021 NBA Draft after his freshman season at Tennessee. Before that, the 23-year-old had been a five-star recruit in high school.

“Coach Jordi does a great job of just keeping that confidence poured into us,” Johnson said. “Even right now, leading into the off-season, he has told me that he's happy with the way that I performed this year, but he wants to see me take it to a higher level.”

Johnson will first spend some time with his AAU team — traveling with them to tournaments and training with the next generation of talent — before going to his “little ranch” in Dallas to “rejuvenate [his] soul.” He has already pinpointed what he’ll work on this off-season.

“Being more consistent on the defensive end, and just taking the challenge more of guarding teams’ best players, but also trying to stay focused on what we're trying to do game in and game out,” Johnson said. “Then on the offensive end, being able to keep my reads simple, but just [making] those reads at a higher level and pretty much stay[ing] consistent.”