PARIS — While the streets were treated to freezing weather, Spurs forward Keldon Johnson was busy warming hearts.
During Wednesday’s NBA Cares event, which included basketball drill stations for a group of French children, Johnson took the wide-eyed participants on a detour, running them, and himself, up and down the stairs of Accor Arena.
“He’s gone rogue!” one Spurs personnel member laughed, as the kids enjoyed the unrivaled enthusiasm of Johnson’s involvement.
As Johnson and the kids headed back down, the forward emerged carrying on his back a young man with a large knee brace and an enormous smile on his face.
“He scored a ton of points in my book,” a fellow Danish media member mentioned.
Johnson’s enthusiasm filled the entire arena, as his voice often drowned the music coming from the PA system. Several kids, doing drills with Spurs teammates Blake Wesley and Sandro Mamukelashvili, couldn’t help but turn their attention to the constant antics of the 25-year-old Johnson, who was having as good a time as anyone on the floor.
As Johnson put down the boy with the knee brace, he was panting after making the multiple runs up and down the stairs. A member of the Spurs organization yelled out, “You overestimated that one, didn’t you?” To which Johnson tried answering but gave up due to his lack of breath and resigned himself to the fact that he had indeed.
The event put a wonderful cap on San Antonio’s open practice and media availability for the Paris Games.
Moments before the NBA Cares event, Victor Wembanyama had partaken in a news conference, where up came the subject of head coach Gregg Popovich, who suffered a stroke on Nov. 2.
Wembanyama had taken the team to dinner Monday night, emulating what Popovich is wont to do on road trips.
“Pop had his schedule here, so I know he would have done something like that too,” Wembanyama said. “Doing that on the first day was important for me, as a welcome to my team. I know that if I went to any of these guys’ country or city, I would have loved to find out about where they come from, to know them better, because they’re all good human beings. It’s a real chance to share those moments together.”
The superstar was also asked about the attention he’s getting and outlined that “you can’t have one without the other,” referring to his dreams of becoming an NBA player and understanding the potentially less appealing obligations that come with his high profile.
The 7-foot-5 center, who at this point is almost certainly mislabeled when he’s referred to as 7-3, has been under intense media attention with his return to Paris. Well after Spurs players had left the floor to make way for the Indiana Pacers, Wembanyama was still conducting interviews all around the arena.
Even if the soon-to-be All-Star had wanted to spy on Indiana’s practice, he wouldn’t have had the mental bandwidth. When the final interview was over, he headed for the tunnel, making the slightest shake of his body, almost as to reset himself.
For the Pacers portion of the open practice, approximately 75% of the media members that were present for San Antonio left, which assuredly wasn’t an issue for Indiana’s coaches.
The dropoff in media interest from the Spurs to Pacers made sense, given the nature of the games and how the Spurs have become France’s team.
One player unaffected by this was forward Obi Toppin, who unknowingly mimicked the enthusiasm of Johnson by joking around and showing high levels of energy.
The Pacers portion of the early afternoon was over somewhat quickly — again, as expected — further underlining the fact that this is all about the Spurs — and in particular Wembanyama.
That’s obviously fair, but it’s almost a disservice to not note that Indiana has won 14 of 18 games since Dec. 13 and is currently sitting pretty in the fifth spot of the Eastern Conference.
In many ways, Wembanyama’s return to Paris has overshadowed the games themselves.
The Pacers are coming in red-hot, with the Spurs struggling to find footing of late, particularly from an offensive perspective, while losing six of seven.
There is enormous importance, for both teams, in these matchups.
San Antonio will obviously try to get back on track as they enter the second half of the season, whereas the Pacers are trying to keep their momentum going.
Both have the same objective — winning — but different motivations. This should lend itself to two thunderous games, provided, of course, that Keldon Johnson has caught his breath.
