Will Johnston chose the hard road home

‍He left Sydney after missing representative teams, climbed through seven years of American basketball and reached NBA Summer League. Now Will Johnston will wear his city across his chest.

Will Johnston remembers leaving Sydney as a player who believed he was good enough, even when the selections around him suggested otherwise.

He played for his high school and in Division Two representative basketball but missed teams he wanted to make. Rather than allowing those decisions to define his ceiling, Johnston went looking for another path.

“I felt like I was good enough and I worked hard, and the opportunity in America was better for me,” he said.

The move began a seven-year climb. High school led to junior college. Junior college led to Division One, then another step to a stronger Division One program. Each season took him farther from home and closer to the player he believed he could become.

The journey was not always comfortable. Johnston missed family milestones and friendships, and the junior-college environment exposed him to lives and challenges far from what he had known in Australia. It also forced him to grow up.

“When I first went over, I was a kid,” he said. “I had a lot of eye-opening experiences. It made me ready for life, made me independent and taught me lessons I take wherever I go.”

A New York Knicks NBA Summer League opportunity became a visible reward for that belief. Against elite athletes, Johnston learnt that getting on the floor was not about being the biggest name. It was about finding a role picking up defensively, bringing pressure and doing something a team needed.

That same attitude now follows him into a Kings backcourt led by Championship Series MVP Kendric Davis and NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova.

“A lot of people would shy away,” Johnston said. “There are two superstars at my position. I saw opportunity rather than a lack of opportunity. I can grow, learn, compete and impact winning with those guys.”

Johnston had other professional opportunities, but Sydney was the one he wanted. He is living at home again, surrounded by family, old friends and the coaches who kept working with him when representative selections did not come. He expects “hundreds” of familiar faces when he steps onto the floor at Afterpay Arena.

“When I wear Sydney on my jersey, I feel a type of way,” he said. “It’s like putting on the Australian jersey for the first time. It means everything.”

Welcome Will home when the Kings open NBL27 on 20 September, 5pm.

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