Who are Keyontae Johnson's parents?

This season’s NCAA tournament highlighted many budding NBA stars and Kansas State’s guard-forward Keyontae Johnson is certainly one of them. The 23-year-old star had a breakout 2023 season earning a place in the 2023 first-team all-Big 12 and Big-12 Newcomer of the Year award.

Johnson played for Florida for 4 years and then moved to the Kansas State basketball team for one season. Starting in all 36 games, Keyontae Johnson averaged 17.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. Both stats are his career highs and also clocked 34 minutes on the floor – also the most in his college career.

While playing for Florida, the talented athlete earned multiple accolades, including MVP of the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational. He also won Preseason SEC Player of the Year in 2020-21. With such a strong resume, many wonder whether Keyontae has any history with basketball, well his parents played a major role in developing Keyontae into a high-performing basketball star.

Keyontae Johnson’s parents and family

Keyontae Johnson was born on May 24th, 2000 to Marcus Johnson and Sharnika Johnson. His mother played a major role in Keyontae’s life and basketball career. Sharnika was a high school basketball player and also helped coach her son’s youth basketball teams.

In an interview, Keyontae even applauded his mother’s “tough love” coaching. He said that her guidance made him a better player on the court. Talking to the Orlando Sentinel, he said, “She’s always been the one that pushed me to be better, to do more, and to work harder.”

Currently, Johnson’s mother is a sheriff, while details about his father are still not confirmed. It might be a cause of their disliking of unwarranted media attention. But one thing is for sure Keyontae Johnson’s incredible basketball career must be a pleasing experience for proud parents.

On the siblings’ front, Keyontae was not the only child of his parents. Keyontae has three siblings named Brianna, Ebony, and Zimarya Johnson. However, just like their father, there is no confirmed and detailed information about them available.

Keyontae Johnson’s Basketball career

The versatile player has been a very crucial part of his team. Standing at a height of 6’5”, Keyontae operates at shooting guard and small forward positions, giving his team flexibility in the lineups. During his high school days, he averaged 23.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, in his senior year. He was instrumental in winning the Virginia Class 5A state championship. Keyontae was named the Virginia Class 5A Player of the Year. And ultimately he earned first-team All-State honors.

Joining the University of Florida in 2018, Keyontae continued to make an impact on his team’s performances. In his freshman year, Keyontae averaged 8.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. The youngster still made it to the SEC All-Freshman Team.

Although his game time was restricted due to various reasons, Keyontae was a beast while playing on the court, he finished his stint with the Florida team with 16 points average and 4.3 rebounds in 5 games played in the last two seasons.

He later moved to the Kansas State team, where Keyontae started all 36 games and played for 34 mins. The talented star saw a huge improvement in his stats during one season with the team. Despite facing heart issues, Keyontae is cleared for the 2023 NBA draft and is expected to land a rookie deal.