As a 5-foot-3 freshman at Olympia High School, Western Washington University’s Kai Johnson had to work extra hard to gain recognition.
Now standing 6-foot-4, the junior guard’s timely growth spurt and relentless desire to improve has led to him becoming “one of the greatest all-time Vikings,” Western head coach Tony Dominguez said.
Even though Western missed the playoffs, Johnson is fresh off a campaign where he ranked 12th in the nation among NCAA Division II men’s basketball players with 21.6 points per game — tied for third best in program history with Ryan Diggs (2005-06).
Johnson’s work ethic and determination shined from a young age. His grandfather gave him the nickname “The Trickster” as a kid because of his high sports IQ and ability to pick up and hone new skills quickly.
“When he was 9 years old, on a Friday, he would watch videos on how to juggle, and by Monday morning he could juggle for 15 to 20 minutes without stopping,” said Johnson’s father, Rex Johnson.
While juggling is a worthy passion, Johnson said his heart has been set on basketball since before he can remember. A picture on his phone shows him shooting hoops on a toy basketball rim just as he learned to walk. After all these years and endless hours of practice, his hard work is paying off.
The only Vikings with better individual scoring seasons are Taylor Stafford (2016-17) at 22.8 points per game and Mike Franza (1972-73) at 25.6 points per game, both of whom were seniors when they averaged those numbers.
Dominguez is in his 12th year as head coach and spent 17 years before that as an assistant coach. Over the years, Dominguez has seen his fair share of talented scorers. However, something sticks out to him about Johnson, he said.
“Kai plays both ends,” Dominguez said. “He’s a very good defender. The difference between him and some of the other scorers we’ve had is that he’s also rebounding and he’s also getting assists. I don’t think he’s had a triple-double this year, but he’s got the capability of doing that … I think he’s just got an all-around game that’s quite nice.”
Across the GNAC, Johnson was fifth in blocked shots (26), seventh in steals (43), fifth in assists (102), and 19th in rebounds (136) as a guard.
But dominating NCAA Division II basketball wasn’t always a certainty for Johnson. After growing from 5-foot-6 his sophomore year of high school to 6-foot-2 his senior year, he averaged 17.1 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals per game. Despite his production, he was only recruited by Western and a couple of other smaller colleges.
Johnson wasn’t initially given a scholarship his first year at Western, and instead was a preferred walk-on.
Johnson’s first season was shortened by COVID-19, so he only got to play against his teammates at practice. Johnson said this allowed him to adjust to the faster pace of college basketball. A year later, his performance at practice resulted in a full-ride scholarship.
Johnson believes his biggest strength is attacking the basket, pulling up from mid-range and knowing when to kick the ball out when the defense collapses. He believes his biggest weakness in the past has been his 3-point shooting — something he’s worked on improving.
“My favorite player growing up was Kyrie Irving,” Johnson said. “His craftiness and skill to manipulate the defender and get all the way to the rim … I’ve always been inspired [by him] and I’ve watched an absurd amount of his highlights.”
Johnson spends a great deal of time working on his game in the offseason. Johnson said he’s in the weight room six days a week and aims to do two basketball workouts a day. One workout is strictly shooting, as he strives to perfect his jump shot, and the other workout is live action, where he looks to read the defense and work on the shots he’ll get in-game.
Johnson said he’s a completely different player now than when he first got to Western. The coaching staff and his teammates allowed him to evolve his game by not limiting his play style and increasing his role on the team each season.
With the Vikings eliminated from playoff contention after a 17-12 season (9-9 Great Northwest Athletic Conference), Dominguez hopes Johnson will increase his leadership capacity and be more vocal on the court next season.
“I was always the smallest kid on the court or the skinniest kid on the court,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of why I wasn’t recruited, people overlooked me. If anything, that just gave me more motivation to go out and prove them wrong, because I’ve always been fully confident in my skills and I’ve known what I’m able to do on the basketball court. People doubting me just gives me more motivation to go prove them wrong.”
In 2021, Johnson averaged 5.3 points in 15.5 minutes per game. The following year, he bumped his average to 12.9 points per game and was named Second Team All-GNAC. Previously playing behind talented guards like D’Angelo Minnis, this year was the opportunity Johnson needed to showcase his offensive and defensive capabilities in full.
Johnson is a business major, but he hopes he will be playing professional basketball before long, whether it’s overseas, in the G League, or the NBA.
Johnson remembers waiting patiently for the day he turned 13 so that he could play “noon hoops” with his father and the older guys at their local gym. Years later, Johnson appeared on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 with an alley-oop dunk off the backboard to himself against Western Oregon University, a play that he and his friends tried on 8-foot rims when they were kids.
“I want to prove to myself, but also to the people around me that believe in me, that they were right to believe in me,” Johnson said.
