Keldon Johnson was named Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year on Apr. 22, becoming the second former Kentucky men’s basketball player to receive this award. Johnson, who played for Kentucky in the 2018-19 season and was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs as the 29th overall pick, is currently the longest-tenured player on the Spurs roster.
The award recognizes Johnson’s performance coming off the bench during the 2025-26 NBA season. He earned a total of 404 votes, including 63 first-place votes, edging out Miami’s Jamie Jaquez Jr., who had 331 points and Denver’s Tim Hardaway Jr., who finished third with no first-place votes and a total of 45 points.
Johnson averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game while not starting any games this season after previously starting in more than two hundred career games. He achieved career-best shooting percentages: making over half his shots from the field at 51.9%, hitting three-pointers at a rate of 36.3%, and free throws at nearly eighty percent.
Serving as a key contributor off the bench for a Spurs team that finished with a record of sixty-two wins and twenty losses—the second seed in their conference—Johnson led all players in total points scored off the bench with one thousand eighty-one this season. The Spurs’ bench ranked ninth in league scoring at forty-one point four points per game.
Johnson joins Tyler Herro as Wildcats alumni to win NBA Sixth Man honors; Herro won in two thousand twenty-two. This marks another major accolade for Kentucky basketball alumni this year after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received NBA Clutch Player of the Year earlier this week.
During his single collegiate season at Kentucky (2017-18), Johnson averaged thirteen point five points and five point nine rebounds per game, earning Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors from league coaches.
