One of the greatest young prizes in NCAA basketball just put his name in the hat for the 2021 NBA Draft. Freshman Keon Johnson of the University of Tennessee Vols is forgoing a second go-around in the orange and white to join the 2021 draft class, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Johnson is the latest one-and-done to enter into this year's draft, joining the likes of consensus top 3-5 picks Cade Cunningham and Jalen Suggs. Of the three, Johnson projects as the most athletic, flashing an extremely high motor during his time with Tennessee. Johnson, at 6'5, is notable for his ability and actual desire to bang in the paint with much bigger bodies. Paired with his athleticism and wickedly explosive first step, Keon Johnson draws high comparisons to another long, physical, and athletic swingmen like Ron Artest and Jaylen Brown.
That said, he is to be viewed as a bit of a project. Johnson's game is strong but needs honing and smoothing out. In particular, his handle and shot mechanics could stand for a good bit of polishing up, drawing additional comparisons to Jaylen Brown once again.
Highlights from Keon Johnson's season. He's considered one of the quickest and most explosive players in the college game in terms of his ability to accelerate from a standstill and get off his feet for dunks and blocks. He flashed real upside in PNR as the season moved on too. pic.twitter.com/KMjMkBfof8
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 7, 2021
So what we have here is an athletic, defensive-minded, aggressive, and physical scorer who is a bit of a finesse project. The perfect teams for Keon Johnson to land on would be ones that know how to develop talent that also match the timeline of his career trajectory. Luckily, we can find those without even leaving the lottery, where he is expected to be picked. Let's take a look at Johnson's three best suitors:
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
If anyone knows how to spot and develop perimeter athletes with Keon Johnson's metrics, it's Sam Presti, the general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder. While not as fast or explosive in the open court as Russell Westbrook, Johnson draws notable comparisons to the human turbo car. Both came into the league as raw machines of athleticism. Trade in Brodie's spring-loaded shoes for Johnson's length and they fit pretty well together in profile.
Johnson will also fit the Thunder's timeline very nicely. They are currently developing a bunch of young stars, who are all growing into very respectable young careers. The group is highlighted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rising stock of Luguentz Dort, who is also working on refining and improving their shot profiles. Keon Johnson shares a similar timeline to both, as all three players are very young, and he is different enough from both of them in immediate profile to have plenty of synergy and weakness coverage among the three. Having a long small-ball lineup of SGA, Dort, and Johnson would be a nightmare for opponents on both sides of the court, and the Thunder have a near-spotless record for talent development and eye.
2. Golden State Warriors
Memo to the Golden State Warriors: the Andrew Wiggins experiment is failing. He has athleticism but doesn't use it, and his motor is low on both ends of the floor. For all the talent that he's had over the years, he couldn't get over the mental hurdle that it takes to lead a team.
Keon Johnson is much rawer than Wiggins was coming into the league but is leaps and bounds the greater regarding attitude. Pending Klay Thompson's return, there is no better environment for Johnson to develop his ball-handling and shooting than the one surrounding the best shooting backcourt of all time. Give the kid a couple of years being tutored by Steph/Klay, and then forged in fire playing opposite Draymond Green in practice, and you can have one of the most talented wings in the league to take over Golden State when Curry inevitably retires.
Several mock drafts actually have Johnson's teammate Jaden Springer going to the Warriors ahead of Johnson, but this move makes much more sense. Steph won't play forever, it's true, but this solution offers a path to glory whether or not Keon Johnson immediately hits or blooms late. He has a higher ceiling than Jaden Springer, and if there is one thing this Warriors team needs, it's defense and athleticism. Johnson loves to do both, right now. Imagine what he could be in three years with that mindset.
3. Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors sure love their underappreciated swingmen. Ujiri has built a veritable parade of guards and wings in Toronto over the years, and the reserves seem endless. Kyle Lowry immediately comes to mind, but so do DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, even Pascal Siakam. All of these players, except for DeRozan, were immediate afterthoughts that the Raptors turned into situational studs. Head coach Nick Nurse knows how and loves to play fast with heavy motion sets, and such actions are right in Keon Johnson's wheelhouse.
Whether or not it's in the water or the food trucks, the Toronto Raptors are able to breathe magic into the perimeter players that they touch. Keon Johnson's low-to-mid-tier comp is OG Anunoby, and the Raptors have turned him into a legitimate option on many nights.
Johnson can take his time to develop, similar to Anunoby, while acclimating himself to a truly winning culture. The sheer depth of the Raptors will make sure of that. OG might be their most athletic player since DeRozan left, and Keon Johnson has an argument as the most athletic perimeter player in this draft class. Rinse and repeat here: like the Warriors, the Raptors are sneakily built to win now, despite injuries and fatigue. Johnson immediately contributes to that number, while still being a good investment for if and when Lowry and Siakam have to leave.
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