The Miami Heat front office has a penchant for finding undrafted players and developing them into solid NBA contributors. Among their latest development projects is Keshad Johnson who was recently selected to represent the Heat during All-Star Weekend.
Johnson was among the headliners for the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, emerging victorious in the final round against San Antonio Spurs rookie Carter Bryant. While his dunks were impressive, a big part of what made his appearance memorable was his style and flair.
A native of Oakland, California, Johnson reached into his roots to enhance his showing. His first dunk included Bay Area music legend E-40, and he broke out into dance after each of his dunks. To be on the big stage in the marquee event of All-Star Saturday Night was a major blessing for him.
Behind the scenes footage of Keshad Johnson practicing for the dunk contest with E-40 🔥 pic.twitter.com/pHWikYzBCS
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) February 22, 2026
“It’s a blessing from God just to be here and be able to showcase my God-given talent in my own way of art and everything,” Johnson told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “I grew up watching dunk contests all my life. That was always my favorite part of All-Star Weekend. So to actually be a part of it and go through the weekend amongst the other greats and stars, I couldn’t ask for nothing better.”
Regarding the dunk contest, there has been countless discourse in NBA circles and amongst fans and media alike on social media about how the event has fallen from its perch in recent years. And the truth is, with a lot of dunks having been done already throughout the years, all the extras that Johnson brought is key to being able to put on a show.
His mentality before hand was just making sure he made his performance memorable in whatever way he could. With big name NBA players shying away from the dunk contest, his goal was to do enough to make everyone watching remember his night.
“Just going out there and pretty much just making sure I leave a statement, making sure people know who I am after I leave the weekend. I’m one of the guys who, along with a lot of the fans, want to see a lot of the superstars in the dunk contest,” Johnson said. “For whatever reason why superstars. . .don’t go into the dunk contest, I don’t really know. I can’t really speak on that. Of course we all want to see those guys going through it.”
“But I guess those guys like declining opportunity,” Johnson continued. “As for me, I’m somebody that’s still trying to get myself on the radar and show people who I am. I can’t take a guess. I gotta show everybody who I am. I gotta take the opportunity and capitalize on it.”
Opportunity doesn’t always knock twice. With the number of eyes on the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, there’s a good chance casual fans walked away knowing exactly who Keshad Johnson is.
“The world is watching. The whole world is watching whether it’s just the general NBA public even fans that don’t know anything about basketball,” Johnson said. “Especially after the Super Bowl. Football is down and now it’s basketball.”
Keshad Johnson’s opportunity with Heat
Despite playing a key role during San Diego State’s run to the NCAA national championship game in 2023, and putting up career numbers during his final season of college basketball at Arizona, Keshad Johnson went undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft.
In the days following the draft, the Heat thought highly enough of Johnson to immediately sign him to a two-way contract. He was one of the team’s standouts during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and at the California Classic. In fact, the Heat were impressed enough with Johnson’s play that they converted his two-way contract into a standard deal just about two months into his rookie season.
‘Heat Culture’ has become infamous across the NBA, and for Johnson, he learned that the fastest way to getting playing time in the league was simply to do what was asked of him. He knew he wasn’t going to be a superstar, instead it was about seeing how to best fit around the team’s top players.
“I feel like I just got to embody ‘Heat Culture.’ I feel like I gotta show the coaches that they can trust me to go out there and do whatever it takes just to get my team the win,” Johnson said. “Everybody has a superstar. I’ve got to get in where I fit in and do whatever it takes.”
Johnson’s playing time since joining the Heat has fluctuated. As a rookie, he appeared in 16 games during the 2024-25 season at a little over six minutes per game. This season, he’s surpassed that with 23 games played, at just slightly more playing time at seven minutes per.
Across the past two seasons, he holds averages of 3.0 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 41.3 percent from the field, 32 percent from the 3-point line and 65.4 percent from the free-throw line. His best game to date came at the tail end of his rookie year when he dropped 17 points in a narrow loss to the Washington Wizards.
But it isn’t so much about the numbers that the Heat coaching staff is looking for when Johnson is on the court. It’s the little things that add up to winning.
“The coaching staff has asked for energy and effort,” Johnson said. “Energy and effort serves a lot. That’s who I am, that’s the identity I want to have. Somebody that serves energy and effort.”
When Johnson was still on a two-way contract, he spent plenty of time with the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Even when his deal was converted to a standard contract, he’s still been assigned to the Skyforce with regularity.
This season, Johnson has appeared in four games with Sioux Falls while averaging 21.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocked shots. He’s shot 54.2 percent from the field, 51.6 percent from the 3-point line and 57.1 percent from the free-throw line.
As most young players either on two-way contracts or on assignment must learn how to handle, Johnson’s focus is just seizing the opportunity amid the shuffle between the Heat and the G League.
“Within my journey, I gotta stay ready for anything that can happen. It’s a lot of unexpected things that can happen being in my position,” Johnson said. “So just stay ready through and throughout. You never know what tomorrow is going to bring or what’s going to happen. Going to the G League one day, then I could be playing in an NBA game the next day.”
And through it all, Johnson has never lost sight of the main thing. He’s used to being doubted, used to be overlooked; going undrafted showed him that. Every day serves as motivation for him.
“I’ve been motivated my whole life. I’m aware of the circumstances of my journey of being undrafted,” Johnson said. “I got a bigger point to prove. I’m aware of all of that, so I just got to go out there and show everybody who I am. I’ve been doing it my whole life, there’s no extra motivation. I just know what it takes. I know what I got to do.”
