Looney’s latest, biggest evolution as Warriors’ 10th season approaches originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Records are made to be broken, and streaks always have an end point. Some have meaning deeper than a number. Some connect to the soul, reminding yourself of everything it took to make it and to never let anything break.
Kevon Looney’s streak of 290 consecutive games played served as a daily example of persevering through all the chances the Warriors center could have decided to retire, all the chances he had to take a day off. The surgeries. The chunks a relentless injury bug kept picking at him. The only NBA franchise he’s ever known to draft his replacement, only to become one of the most reliable players on multiple championship teams only to receive contracts that still raised doubts.
It’s all of these factors that made March 7, 2024, such a crushing blow. Not just for Looney, but for the man who decided not to let him play a single second in a three-point loss to the Chicago Bulls. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has played with some of the greatest of all time and coached some of the game’s legends, too. Despite the many Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers he’s shared the court with, Looney is perhaps the one Kerr respects most, which could have made the player-coach exit interview in April the toughest yet after such a disappointing season for all parties.
Instead, it was a reassuring moment as Looney faced perhaps the greatest period of uncertainty after overcoming so many obstacles in his Warriors career.
“He’s someone who’s always been by my side,” Looney said in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Bay Area. “He kind of said to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m always going to fight for you. I want you to be a part of this team while I’m here.’
“He just told me what I needed to work on, what he expected of me. He always spoke to me with the intention of me coming back, so he just told me what I needed to do to get better and continue to help our team.”
But Looney’s return to the Warriors for the 2024-25 NBA season was far from certain. The night before his streak ended, Looney played just six minutes — all in the first quarter — of a 35-point blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks and had come off the bench for 19 straight games. Rookie second-round draft pick Trayce Jackson-Davis, who plays the same position as Looney, was added to the starting lineup for the final three weeks of the 2023-24 regular season.
The biggest part, however, was Looney’s contract.
Owner Joe Lacob was outspoken in his desire to cut costs this offseason, and Looney appeared to be a potential casualty. His diminishing role showed the odds were against him, with only $3 million of his $8 million contract through the 2024-25 season guaranteed. Looney admits there was “a little bit of doubt” about his future with Golden State, but when the June 24 deadline for his contract was fully guaranteed, the key decision-makers paid up and kept him in a Warriors jersey.
Kerr is not signing any contracts, but has made his wishes known to management, with sources calling Looney’s return “huge for the direction the Warriors are trying to take in terms of leading the young guys and keeping the veterans on track” as their “moral compass.”
“Until you actually get that guarantee, you never really know,” Looney said. “I’ve been in that situation before where things didn’t go my way. I was pretty optimistic that I was still going to be here; I’m glad I’m still here. It’s still a long year, you never know. Things can change very, very quickly in the NBA.
“I’m just going to take care of what I can take care of, which is my body, the way I perform and the way I present myself.”
And that’s exactly how the 28-year-old, who is now the third-longest-tenured Warrior behind Steph Curry and Draymond Green, handled another pivotal summer for himself and the team.
Looney’s main goal coming into the season, a campaign that saw the Warriors fail to make the NBA playoffs and his minutes per game plummet to their lowest point in a full season since 2017-18, was to expand his game and restructure his body. That meant losing weight to play faster, be more versatile on the wing, guard the perimeter and, yes, start shooting 3-pointers.
He’s already reached his goal of losing 10 to 15 pounds, and the 6-foot-9 center looks remarkably lean. “Loon is in phenomenal shape,” a source said.
One of the NBA’s best rebounders in recent seasons, Looney played at 260 pounds and expects to play between 245 and 250 pounds this season, where he’s days away from training camp. Looney has continued his secret weapon of JOGA — a form of yoga for athletes that focuses on posture, breathing, flexibility and mobility — and has been working with a nutritionist. It’s not so much that he’s changed his workouts, but the way he trains: What he eats and Looney’s calorie intake have been down to a science over the past five months.
“I feel lighter, I feel a lot of “I feel lighter,” Looney said. “I feel lighter on my feet, I feel like I can move better. I can move longer the way I want to and I feel like I have a little bit more endurance. I’m still going to be in the post and I’ve got to defend those big bodies, so I’m going to keep that strength and improve the weaknesses that I wanted to improve.
“I have a good balance now. For me it’s always been a matter of finding that balance where I can be mobile and still be strong enough to hold my own on the block.”
On the court, Looney remained a fixture during the now-infamous Rico Hines Runs at UCLA. This year, Looney couldn’t help but notice that he was becoming more of a veteran, often being called upon for advice, passing on the same knowledge that Green and Andre Iguodala imparted to him early in his career. The sessions also served as a way for Looney to practice aggressive shooting in a game-like setting, something that Hines, now an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the entire Warriors coaching staff have encouraged him to do whenever he gets the chance.
When an open shot opens up and Looney is in rhythm, from mid-range or behind the 3-point line, his first option can no longer be to scan the court for someone else. As he eyes a 35-36 percent shooting percentage from distance, with the ultimate goal of one day reaching 40 percent, mindset is more important than numbers.
While Looney doesn’t have a celebrity shooting coach like Chris Brickley or Drew Hanlen, he has worked with player development coach Jerred Cook, whom he met through Hines, over the past few offseasons. When Looney shared his plan to shoot 3-pointers, Cook lit up and said, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that!” What followed were the constant reminders that it’s OK to be a little selfish and look for your own shot, knowing that Looney will naturally find others, too.
Footwork and building from the ground up is part of the process. Confidence is the most essential ingredient.
“I watched a lot of film where I could make shots in the game and I tried to shoot in those spots,” Looney explained. “And then when I go out there and play, I don’t get in the habit of just playing the way I’m used to, I go out there and shoot the shots I want to shoot in the game and shoot them at game speed.”
The weight loss, hard work and dedication to becoming a shooting threat still don’t guarantee anything for someone who’s played every role before Kerr. Starter, rotational player, leader and the perfect glue guy no matter how many minutes he plays – Looney has done it all for the Warriors.
Two players, Curry and Green, are the only Warriors guaranteed a spot in the starting five. The only role Looney wants to play is to play and be a part of the Warriors competing for a title again. Whether or not he’s introduced into the starting lineup doesn’t change his approach. Preparation is what can give him the confidence that Kerr will make the right decision for him and the team after nine years together, which brings Looney to another milestone that immediately puts a smile on his face: reaching a decade of NBA play for one franchise.
Curry and Green are also the two active players with the longest tenure with one team in the NBA. While Curry is entering his 16th season as a Warrior, Green will play 13 seasons with Golden State. Giannis Antetokounmpo is entering his 12th year with the Milwaukee Bucks, and it’s Looney, along with Nikola Jokic, Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns and Myles Turner, who are on the cusp of reaching the 10-year milestone for their respective teams.
“I’ve had a crazy career,” Looney said. “I know how my career started — I had confidence, but I don’t know if anybody else had confidence that I could play this long, especially with the injuries that I had to deal with. There was nobody that I could look to and lean on and just give me confidence. I just had to have confidence in myself.
“To be able to say that I’ve played 10 years, and not just bounced around for 10 years, but 10 years with one team, and to be able to contribute to winning basketball, to be a part of a team that’s won multiple championships and to have an impact on a community like this and a franchise with this kind of story, has been huge for me. … This basketball thing is not guaranteed. You can be in the league today and gone tomorrow.”
Looney was drafted at 19 and has gone from a teenager to a man with the Warriors. The life lessons he has brought with him are abundant. Adversity is his greatest strength, respect and discipline are close to his heart.
Adapt, evolve, then adapt and evolve some more. Looney’s never-ending metamorphosis has him ready to spread his wings and show Warriors fans something new in his 10th year with Dub Nation, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
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