Marrecus Keyontae Johnson (born May 24, 2000) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Blue of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at Kansas State and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Early life and high school career

Johnson grew up in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

and originally attended

Norview High School Norview High School is a public high school in central Norfolk, Virginia. Norview High School is one of the five local high schools that serve the city. It is home of the Dodson Scholars Program Dodson may refer to: Places United States * Dods ...

before transferring to IMG Academy in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

before his junior year. He played at IMG for one season before transferring again to Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia for his senior season after his head coach, Vince Walden, left the school to become an assistant coach at

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage l ...

. During the

Nike EYBL The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, also known as Nike EYBL, or simply EYBL, is a basketball circuit for teams of players aged 17 and under. The circuit was founded in 2010 and is composed of AAU travel teams. Both boys and girls play in the E ...

finals at Peach Jam, Johnson averaged 12.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. As a senior, he scored at least 18 points in 19 of Oak Hill's games. Rated a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * ''Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (En ...

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

(who also rated him as a top 100 recruit), Johnson committed to playing college basketball for

over an offer from

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

while also receiving interest from

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.

College career

Florida

In 2018, Johnson began his true freshman season as a key

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

, and eventually became the Gators' starting

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

going into the team's game against Georgia. He started the final 20 games of the season, and finished the season with 8.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. Johnson averaged 13.7 points and 10 rebounds during the

2019 SEC men's basketball tournament The 2019 Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southeastern Conference at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from March 13–17, 2019. Auburn defeated Tennessee, 84–64, i ...

, as the Gators went to the tournament semifinal. He scored 20 points and 12 rebounds in the opening round against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, a double-double. On February 26, 2020, Johnson scored a career-high 25 points to go with 11 rebounds in an 81–66 win against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 14 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game and was named first team All- SEC. On December 12, 2020, Johnson collapsed on the court in a game at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

. When he arrived at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, doctors assessed him to be in critical, but stable condition. After three days in a medically induced coma at Tallahassee Memorial, Johnson was taken back to

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

for further treatment. On December 15, it was reported that he was awake, speaking, and responding to commands. On December 28, head coach Mike White announced that Johnson had rejoined the team as a coach. Johnson was announced as the honorary starter on Senior Day against Kentucky on March 5, 2022, and received a standing ovation. On May 1, he entered the transfer portal.

Kansas State

On August 20, 2022, Johnson committed to Kansas State. Johnson was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and joined teammate

Markquis Nowell Markquis Morris Nowell (born December 25, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for Raptors 905 of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Kansas State Wildcats, and previously the Little Rock Trojans. He holds the D ...

on the First Team All-Big 12. Along with Nowell, Johnson led Kansas State to the Elite Eight in the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Professional career

On April 24, 2023, Johnson officially declared for the NBA Draft. With his heart issues, Johnson still needed to be cleared for contact by the NBA and did not participate in the physical components of the NBA Draft Combine. However, after being cleared by the NBA's Fitness to Play panel on May 26, 2023, Johnson officially kept his name in the NBA Draft and began working out for teams. On June 22, 2023, Johnson was drafted in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder and on July 7, he signed a two-way contract.

Personal life

On March 16, 2022,

Alachua County Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

police filed a sworn complaint, claiming that Johnson sexually assaulted a woman, but the case was later dropped. Alachua County court records showed that prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 20 , , 23.8 , , .470 , , .365 , , .643 , , 6.4 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.3 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 31.3 , , .544 , , .380 , , .768 , , 7.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.3 , , 14.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 4 , , 4 , , 20.3 , , .641 , , .429 , , .786 , , 4.5 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 16.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 1 , , 0.0 , , , , , , , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Kansas State , 36 , , 36 , , 34.1 , , .516 , , .405 , , .715 , , 6.8 , , 2.1 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 17.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 108 , , 92 , , 29.0 , , .519 , , .389 , , .718 , , 6.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , 0.3 , , 13.1

References

External links

Kansas State Wildcats bioFlorida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Keyontae 2000 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Norfolk, Virginia Small forwards Florida Gators men's basketball players IMG Academy alumni Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players Oklahoma City Thunder draft picks