The night of Nov. 25 couldn’t have been more different for the three Kentucky Wildcats selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft.

While the Charlotte Hornets’ P.J. Washington and the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro faced one another for the first time in an NBA game and swapped jerseys afterward, Keldon Johnson was in Austin, helping the Spurs’ G League team to a victory over the Orlando Magic’s farm club.

Almost three months later, Johnson earned a spot on the G League’s Western Conference Midseason All-G League Team, an achievement overshadowed by the participation of Washington and Herro at All-Star Weekend in Chicago as members of the Rising Stars Game’s U.S. team.

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But instead of being envious of his former teammates, Johnson is at peace with how things have gone since he left Kentucky after his freshman season.

“Everybody has a different path, a different process,” said Johnson, selected 29th overall by the Spurs after Washington and Herro went 12th and 13th, respectively. “I trust the process here. I just have to keep going, keep grinding.”

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Johnson’s comments came after he logged a season high 13 minutes in Sunday’s 131-103 loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Playing the entire fourth quarter after entering the game with a minute left in the third and the Spurs trailing by 22 points, the 6-foot-5 swingman made the most of his first extended NBA playing time. Johnson scored nine points on 4-of-10 shooting and had three rebounds and three assists.

“I think it went pretty good,” Johnson said. “I played my game, stayed aggressive and just played team basketball.”

Johnson joined the Spurs after he scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in the Austin Spurs’ 128-124 home victory over the South Bay Lakers on Thursday night.

“He’s a tough kid,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Johnson.

Sitting out the fourth quarter in Oklahoma City, Spurs leading scorer and playmaker DeMar DeRozan liked what he saw from Johnson.

“He has a lot of confidence,” DeRozan said. “He goes out there and plays aggressive right away, and it shows. He’s just eager to get out there and play. I’m glad he got a full quarter in.”

While fans want to see Johnson get more playing time with the big club, especially with the Spurs now in 11th place in the West with a 24-32 record, the club’s hierarchy views the 21-year-old Virginia native as a raw talent in need of the same G League seasoning that Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes, Derrick White and Lonnie Walker IV received before him.

Learning the NBA ropes in the G League is a far cry from what veterans such as DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge experienced as rookies after entering the league as lottery picks in 2009 and 2006, respectively.

“I was thrown in a lot earlier,” Aldridge said of his rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers. “I was told to go play defense and play my game, so I could take whatever shot I wanted, do what I wanted to do. But that’s not the case here. It’s more of a learning curve here, learning how to play within the system.”

Johnson signed with Kentucky in November 2017 as the No. 7 prospect in ESPN’s 2018 recruiting rankings and averaged 13.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists last season on his way to being named the SEC Freshman of the Year and to the All-SEC second team.

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Turning pro after helping the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, he joined the Spurs after they selected him with the first-round draft pick they acquired along with DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl in the July 2018 trade that sent Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors.

Indoctrinated into the Spurs’ system during Summer League while playing under Austin Spurs coach Blake Ahearn in Salt Lake City and Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon in Las Vegas, Johnson is averaging 20.0 points on 52.4 percent shooting, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 30 G League games.

“It’s never just one person who helps me out,” Johnson said. “I feel like it’s the whole organization. They make you feel that everybody is behind you 100 percent. Whether it’s Coach Ahearn, all the coaches down in the G League, all the coaches here (with the Spurs), everybody is behind you 100 percent, and they let you know that.”

Under Ahearn, Johnson is focusing on becoming a better defender.

“Everything starts with defense here,” Johnson said. “We can live with everything else, but you got to play defense.”

Washington and Herro said during All-Star Weekend they are betting on Johnson joining them soon as a full-time NBA participant.

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A 6-7 power forward, Washington is averaging 11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the Hornets. A 6-5 shooting guard, Herro is averaging 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Heat.

“Keldon’s going to be very good,” Washington said. “He has a very good work ethic, a great body, great athleticism. I feel like as long as he is in the gym working, there is no ceiling for him. He’s special. He has a long career ahead of him.”

Said Herro: “He was my roommate in college, so I know how hard he works. Everyone has a different path. He’s with a different organization, taking a different path, but he’s going to be ready (when the Spurs call him up permanently).”

No matter how far Washington and Herro climb as rookies, Johnson’s plan is to continue to stay focused in Austin.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said of the success being enjoyed by his former teammates. “I just need to stay on track and do what I’ve got to do and keep listening to my coaches and the organization.”

torsborn@express-news.net

Twitter: Tom_Orsborn