KENSINGTON — When he’s not on the court as the Nets shooting guard, Keon Johnson can be found in the pottery studio. Johnson joined Brooklyn-based artist and pottery teacher Michelle Wen in her basement studio in Kensington on Thursday, March 27 for an exclusive pottery-making class. 

At first sight, the two seem to be an unconventional pair sitting at the wheel — one a professional basketball player with a pottery hobby and the other a professional potter with a love for the Brooklyn Nets. 

Johnson first took up pottery in high school as an elective. He soon grew to enjoy his time in the studio, though, and was often found there before basketball games. 

“A lot of people wouldn’t think I’d be in the pottery room, so I could kind of get away from people on campus,” Johnson said. “Then it just became fun for me.”

Before basketball, Johnson dreamt of being a farmer. In addition to pottery, one of his hobbies is fishing, and Johnson intended to pursue aquaponics and fish farming after college if basketball wasn’t an option. He studied forestry for a year at the University of Tennessee before transitioning to professional basketball.

He was taken by the New York Knicks in the 2021 NBA draft. He was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and played a season for the Portland Trail Blazers before settling in with the Brooklyn Nets in 2023. 

With his quick transition from school to basketball, Johnson returned to pottery when he needed a retreat from the pressures of his professional life. 

“It definitely gives you something to mentally get away,” Johnson said. “I picked up the hobby so I could get away from basketball and try something totally different but still be creative.”

Wen studied art at Pratt Institute, where she was introduced to pottery while working in the ceramics studio. But it wasn’t until recently that Wen became a Nets fan. Wen and her partner attended a game together where Wen passed the time analyzing each players’ astrological sign. While some fans obsess over points, rebounds and assists, Wen specializes in players’ star signs. Johnson is a Pisces, which Wen found to be a common astrological sign for NBA players. 

“They had a sense of fluidity but also intuition that makes them really good at point shooting,” Wen said. 

It was through Wen’s astrological analysis that she connected with the Nets, and since then, she’s attended games at Barclays Center whenever possible. “Every game I’ve been to at Barclays, they’ve won, so there might be a little magic to it,” Wen said. 

It’s hard to imagine the six-foot-five Nets guard’s affinity for ceramics, but Wen and Johnson agreed that pottery and basketball have more similarities than people realize. Pottery helps Johnson focus before a game, and it reminds him of the importance of learning from mistakes. As he sat at the wheel, Johnson persisted with the clay through bumps, bruises and imperfections and eventually created a finished product that made him beam with pride. 

“You’re gonna make a lot of mistakes if you keep doing what you’re doing and just trying to perfect whatever you’re trying to do, the outcome will be greater than the mistakes that you’re looking at,” Johnson said.

“It’s really about the process and learning how to work with the wheel, not necessarily about finished products,” Wen added. “When you have failures, that’s what really highlights your wins.”

Wen attended the Net’s game at Barclays Center Thursday night, April 10 against the Atlanta Hawks to hand deliver Johnson’s finished work. 

Just as Wen didn’t expect to become an NBA fanatic, Johnson said he thought the team would be shocked to learn about his secret love for pottery and ceramics. Johnson’s teammates would love pottery, if they give it a chance. Johnson will return to the court with the Nets Friday, April 11 to face the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis, and the rest of the Nets schedule can be found on the NBA website.