{"id":695716,"date":"2026-04-03T11:13:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695716\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:13:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:13:51","slug":"keldon-johnson-becomes-first-spurs-player-to-score-1000-points-off-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695716\/","title":{"rendered":"Keldon Johnson Becomes First Spurs Player to Score 1,000 Points Off the Bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs<\/a> have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the 2025-26 NBA<\/a> season. Most of it has to do with Victor Wembanyama<\/a>, who has emerged as an MVP-like star. On Thursday, the Spurs’ productive surge continued as they won their 11th straight game, beating the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>, 118-99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amid Wembanyama’s absence, the team worked together to keep their win streak alive. De’Aaron Fox led the team in scoring with 22 points on 69.2%. Fox also had eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.<\/p>\n

However, it was a special night for forward Keldon Johnson, who had 13 points off the bench. Before the start of the game, he had a total of 990 points<\/a>. He is No. 2 in the league in points off the bench, trailing Miami Heat<\/a> forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/p>\n

Keldon Johnson Scores 1,000 Points Off the Bench\"San<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3)<\/p>\n

Against the Clippers, he finished with 13 points and six assists, which brings his scoring total to 1,003 this season. Johnson became the first bench player in Spurs history to reach the scoring mark. In the past, it was NBA legend Manu Ginobili who had the record with 927 points during the 2007-08 season. Ginobili won the Sixth Man of the Year award<\/a> that time.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s strong showing off the bench has made him a favorite to win the Sixth Man of the Year this season. After the win over the Clippers, rookie guard Dylan Harper campaigned for the veteran forward to win the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe role he’s taken, how he just strives in his role, is the best thing ever for us. I think he’s kind of a glue guy, as everyone says. He’s just someone who comes in every day with a smile on his face. And he has the most energy … you see it every night, he contributes in a big way,\u201d Harper said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Johnson also started to pitch himself as a potential winner of the award during his interview with Taylor Rooks on NBA on Prime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the Sixth Man award, I feel like I\u2019ve played every game this season and planning on finishing on 82 [games], God willing,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m efficient, I\u2019m starring in my role and my team is winning\u2026 How can you not say I’m the Sixth Man of the Year?\u201d<\/p>\n

If Johnson wins the award, he will be the second player in franchise history to receive it. Aside from the scoring, the Spurs forward has also been one of the most reliable players for the team. He’s averaging 5.3 rebounds<\/a> and shooting 52.8% from the field.<\/p>\n

Related: After Victor Wembanyama, Keldon Johnson Campaigns for Another Award No Spur Has Won in 18 Years<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the 2025-26 NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,65885,226,4959,2850,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,1537,189,6,474,2594,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-695716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-de39aaron-fox","11":"tag-dylan-harper","12":"tag-jaime-jaquez-jr","13":"tag-keldon-johnson","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-clippers","16":"tag-laclippers","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangelesclippers","21":"tag-manu-ginobili","22":"tag-miami-heat","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","25":"tag-the-spurs","26":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116340484947166626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}