San Antonio Spurs' Keldon Johnson changes his jersey number to 0, preserving Chris Paul's No. 3

In a surprising turn of events, San Antonio fans were shocked to see Keldon Johnson sporting a new number for the upcoming season. Johnson, who has been with the franchise for five years, has always worn No. 3. However, in a recent Instagram post, he revealed that he will be donning the Spurs uniform with the No. 0 jersey.

That means the No. 3 uniform is open for Chris Paul.

It's not known if Paul paid Johnson for the number or gave him some kind of gift, but that is not uncommon around the NBA. Johnson said previously that part of the reason he wore No. 3 was he looked up to Paul, who had worn No. 3 at every one of his stops during his 19-year, Hall-of-Fame NBA career.

Paul coming to San Antonio to help organize the Spurs offense, get Victor Wembanyama the ball in better positions, and to mentor young players like Johnson and rookie guard Stephen Castle. It was one of the better pickups of the offseason. It's possible the Spurs will trade CP3 at the February deadline, but that's still a lot of time for Paul to work with Gregg Popovich and put his stamp on this team.