Lanier High School varsity basketball Coach Joseph Martinez programs a shooting machine before morning practice, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson has developed a relationship with the high school. He has attended football games, pep rallies and coaches let him use the gym for shooting practice. Johnson donated the shooting machine.

Keldon Johnson didn’t hesitate to say yes when Spurs Give — the team’s charitable arm — recruited him to serve as Santa Claus at an annual holiday event benefiting underprivileged children.

With his gregarious personality, the 22-year-old forward was a perfect fit to play the “right jolly old elf.”

But there was another reason Johnson was eager to don the white beard, red suit and black boots: The event was on the poverty-plagued West Side near Lanier High School, which is near to his heart.

“Me and Lanier, we have a great relationship, a great bond,” Johnson said. “Any way I can help, I am definitely down. That’s for all of San Antonio, but my bond with Lanier is definitely special.”

The story of how Johnson came to champion the Lanier community begins with his burning desire to improve as a player.

Seeking a gym to work out in during his off hours, Johnson received a tip from a then-teammate that the Voks’ facility was a welcoming spot.

“It started off with Bryn (Forbes), and then he passed it on to Keldon,” said Joseph Martinez, coach of the Lanier boys basketball team.

Lanier High School varsity basketball team practices with a shooting machine, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson has developed a relationship with the high school. He has attended football games, pep rallies and coaches let him use the gym for shooting practice. Johnson donated the shooting machine.

For Johnson and other Spurs, access to the gym has always been easy: Just place a call to Arturo Campos, an assistant coach who lives near the school and is quick to open the building for the pros.

“We have had Drew Eubanks, Derrick White, (former Spur) Luka Samanic come by,” Campos said.

But nobody has embraced the Lanier community quite like Johnson.

“Keldon is such a good guy, such a good young man,” Martinez said. “Big heart, big smile. If anybody wants a picture, if anybody wants to shake his hand, it’s always a ‘yes.’ He is never going to turn one our students or parents down.”

After his workouts, Johnson often spends more time on the West Side before returning home.

“He’s like, ‘What’s the deal? What’s a good place to eat?’ ” Martinez said. “We introduced him to Bill Miller’s and some of the Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood.”

Johnson, who is not too far removed from high school himself, has bonded with some of the Lanier players.

Lanier High School varsity basketball Coach Joseph Martinez programs a shooting machine before morning practice, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson has developed a relationship with the high school. He has attended football games, pep rallies and coaches let him use the gym for shooting practice. Johnson donated the shooting machine

“It’s like they are friends,” Martinez said. “He knows them by name. My kids see him and go, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ If you didn’t know he was a San Antonio Spur, you would think, ‘Oh, those guys are just good friends.’ That’s how he is with our kids. We love him.”

Voks senior guard Andrew Pena echoed his coach’s comments.

“He’s funny,” Pena said of Johnson. “He’s like a little kid basically. He’s like a teenager, a student. He’s very young.”

In many ways, it seems as if Johnson has done everything but enroll at Lanier, a cornerstone institution in the San Antonio Independent School District that opened in 1915 as an elementary school.

“Attending football games at Alamo Stadium, pep rallies, assemblies — if he is available, he will show up,” Martinez said. “He does anything for the kids.”

Pena said it means a lot to have a celebrity embrace the school, knowing that Johnson easily could have worked out at a private school or a public school in an affluent part of town.

Lanier High School varsity basketball players Abner Villanueva, left, and Jonathan Soto roll out a shooting machine during practice, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson has developed a relationship with the high school. He has attended football games, pep rallies and coaches let him use the gym for shooting practice. Johnson donated the shooting machine.

“He supports us,” Pena said. “It makes us feel special.”

In June 2021, Johnson showed his appreciation to the school by donating a $10,000 shooting machine to the basketball team.

“I noticed they didn’t have a shooting machine, something I also didn’t have growing up,” said Johnson, who hails from a small town in Virginia. “They have helped me out so much with the gym, so the shooting machine was the least I could do to help them out and help them grow as basketball players.”

Johnson also serves as a role model for the Voks. When he’s working out at the school, the basketball players often gather around with Martinez to study the former Kentucky star’s routine and work ethic.

“It’s a great learning tool for our kids,” the coach said. “He is not here doing some crazy stuff. It’s simple, fundamental basketball, things we talk about in practice all the time. Keldon is extraordinary at the simple shot things: one dribble, pull up. He has it down to a T. And he has the floaters down to a science. We do floaters, too, but with Keldon, it has to be a certain way, it has to be perfect.”

In his third season after the Spurs selected him 29th overall in the 2019 NBA draft, Johnson’s devotion to his craft is paying off. In his 50 appearances this season, he is averaging 15.4 points and 6.1 rebounds — both career highs — and is tied for fifth in the NBA in 3-point accuracy with a 43.1 percent success rate.

Friday, Johnson scored a season-best 28 points — one shy of matching his career high — in the Spurs’ 131-106 romp over Houston. He canned 11-of-17 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc to help the Spurs snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 20-34.

“I talk to my kids about what he does, saying, ‘That’s his job, and he has to be perfect,’” Martinez said.

Lanier High School varsity basketball players, Jared Salazar, left, and Justin Centeno practices with a shooting machine, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. San Antonio Spurs Keldon Johnson has developed a relationship with the high school. He has attended football games, pep rallies and coaches let him use the gym for shooting practice. Johnson donated the shooting machine

Campos, the Voks assistant coach, believes Johnson has an innate sense about what the Lanier community needs.

“He knows how important of a role he can play with the status that he has,” Campos said. “What he is doing is unheard of around here.”

Lanier has a rich basketball history that dates back to the 1940s, when the Voks under legendary coach Nemo Herrera claimed state titles in 1943 and 1945. Herrera coached at Lanier for 17 years, guiding the school to the state tournament six times in 15 seasons from 1931-45. Lanier finished as runner-up in 1939 and third in 1942 and 1944.

More recently, the Voks made the Class 4A state tournament in 2000 and 2001 under then-coach Rudy Bernal, losing in the semifinals and finals, respectively. Martinez played on those teams as a guard.

In the 2001 state tournament at the Erwin Center in Austin, Lanier faced two future NBA players. The Voks beat Chris Bosh and Dallas Lincoln in the semifinals and fell in the title game to Beaumont Ozen, which was led by Kendrick Perkins.

“Lanier is in our city’s most economically poor zip code, and oftentimes what comes with that is a projected stigma,” said city councilwoman and lifelong West Side resident Teri Castillo, whose District 5 includes Lanier. “But Lanier has a rich history that includes the basketball titles they won back in the 1940s, a great culture and the most brilliant students. And there is a pride like no other at Lanier High School when it comes to sports.”

Castillo praised Johnson for embracing the Lanier community.

Lanier varsity basketball players, from left Abner Villanueva, Jared Salazar, Justin Centeno and Zeke Garcia practice with a shooting machine that was donated by Spurs forward Keldon Johnson at a cost of $10,000.

“For many of our kids who can’t afford to go to (basketball) camps, this friendship provides a great opportunity for our kids to connect with a mentor,” Castillo said. “And that relationship not only helps the students and athletes, it also uplifts parents as well. His commitment and his participation to being present in the 78207 area is working wonders for the community, our kids, our students and our parents.”

Johnson appreciates the praise, but he said his motivation for connecting with Lanier and its students and community members is simple.

“I enjoy being around them,” he said. “They are great people, like family to me. If they need anything, I am here for them. I will help them anyway I can, and if I need help, I am sure they would do the same for me.”

After three years as a part-time employee covering mainly high school sports, Tom Orsborn became a full-time employee at the Express-News in October 1985. He's covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL since 1999 and has also covered the Spurs, the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and a variety of other events, including 14 Super Bowls.