The Miami Heat were projected by Yahoo Sports to take Arizona forward Keshad Johnson with the 43rd overall selection in the NBA Draft’s second round Thursday.
The Heat traded the pick to Atlanta, then traded for the 44th pick and took an Arizona player … Pelle Larsson.
But Johnson is still headed to Miami. Less than an hour after the 58-pick draft ended, the Heat snapped up the 6-foot-7 forward who spent four seasons at San Diego State, signing him to a two-way contract that allows him to jump between the NBA and G League affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce in South Dakota.
Johnson spent much of the spring living and working out in Miami, so he’s familiar with the city. He won’t be spending much time there, though, with the team’s newcomers starting practice on the West Coast next week and opening summer league against the Golden State Warriors on July 6 at San Francisco’s Chase Center, just across the bridge from Johnson’s hometown of Oakland.
The Heat also face the Sacramento Kings (July 7) and Los Angeles Lakers (July 10) at the Chase Center. Then it’s onto the main NBA Summer League in Las Vegas from July 12-22.
As far as undrafted players go, you can’t ask for a better spot. The Heat have crafted quite a reputation for finding them and developing them, having nine on their roster last season and five in the rotation during the NBA Finals.
Two spent time in the Mountain West: Nevada’s Caleb Martin and Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson.
“It’s an organizational philosophy of ours,” coach Eric Spoelstra told ESPN in 2023. “We’ve done it now for several years. We know what we’re looking for. We’re not for everybody, but we love to be dream makers.”
Two-way contracts are worth $580,272 for the 2024-25 season, but there are restrictions on how many NBA games they can play and they’re not eligible, like most G League players, to be signed by any NBA club with a specific positional need. Each team can sign up to three two-way contracts.
Jaedon LeDee, Johnson’s former Aztecs teammate, also went undrafted and is still waiting to learn his NBA fate for summer league. The Karl Malone Award recipient as the nation’s top power forward conducted workouts with 11 different teams this spring after completing an all-American season with SDSU.
It is the second straight year no Mountain West player has been selected in the two-round draft, the first time that’s happened in the conference’s 25-year history. Colorado State guard Isaiah Stevens and New Mexico’s Jaelen House, who both attended the G League Elite Camp in May with LeDee, went undrafted as well.
The Pac-12 and Big East each had eight players drafted, followed by the ACC (seven), Big 12 (six), SEC (four) and Big Ten (four). The remaining six college players selected came from the WCC with two, and the Atlantic 10, MAC, Big Sky and Big West with one each.
Mission Bay High School alum Boogie Ellis signed with the Sacramento Kings, although it’s unclear what kind of contract it is. He committed to Duke out of high school, then flipped to Memphis and finished his career at USC.
“Only if y’all knew how much I been through these last 5 years,” Ellis said in a stream-of-consciousness social media post. “I just want to thank GOD for putting me in this position been through every emotion but it made me and built me for any situation that comes nothings been given to me earned every opportunity ready for this next chapter it’s all apart of the story let’s work!”
USC teammate Bronny James, who was drafted at No. 55 by the Lakers, responded: “Yessirrr.”