If You Were Unfamiliar With His Past, Keyontae Johnson Getting Drafted Was The Best Story Of Last Night

You may be asking why the 50th selection for The Oklahoma City Thunder in last night's NBA Draft was my favorite of the night, or why it even matters, and those are all fine questions if you don't know about Keyontae Johnson's life. For those unfamiliar he's just another name from just another school drafted by just another team, but when you learn the story it quickly shifts to a kid you will root for immediately ... at least I am. 

On December 12th, 2020 Keyontae Johnson was a star at Florida. After a sequence in which he looked perfectly normal, including a huge slam dunk, and was playing like the star he was, he all of a sudden wasn't and collapsed on the court in a very scary scene. 

Updates in the days after were very spotty as everyone worried about Covid related issues, heart issues, or just a bizarre horrible occurence that no one could put their finger on. A few days later he was responsive and Facetimed his teammates and was breathing on his own. 

He sat out the rest of that 2020-2021 season, and all but 1 game in 2021-2022, as Florida let him dress for Senior Day. Doctors seemed to still worry about him returning to full action as they hadn't cleared him for full action. 

He transferred to Kansas State was cleared fully for action, and became one of the best players in the country leading Kansas State to an Elite 8 appearance providing epic highlights the whole way. 

And then last night he got to have his dream come true, less than 3 years after being told he may never play the game again, and be selected in The NBA Draft. If you don't get choked up reading this I don't know what to say. Some of my favorite things in sports are comebacks, where a team looks completely out of it and digs deep to go possession by possession , or play by play to get back in the game. They push themselves harder knowing they need the extra gear to get back in the game. It's a glimpse of their character as a unit and as individuals. Keyontae Johnson displayed an immense amount of character and showed his makeup through nearly a 2 year process in which he kept being told to wait to play , or "not just yet" or "let's run another test just to make sure", and the days went on, and the weeks went on and he wasn't able to play the game he loved. He didn't quit, he didn't give up , he just kept believing in himself and eventually he got to tell one of the best comeback stories we've ever seen. 

I spoke to Keyontae about the situation early last year, and you can tell he is a guy with poise, and immense commitment to getting back to playing no matter what. (Full interview)

His coach Jerome Tang spoke at length about his toughness as well. 

Awesome to see a kid like this who had every reason to quit or give up when dealt a bad hand in life, not and instead get to live out his dream despite everything going against it. Some things are bigger than sports, and never ever give up. Go get em Keyontae… cue up Lil Baby.