Getty Kevon Looney of the Golden State Warriors during a game in May against the New Orleans Pelicans.
One of the longest-tenured members of the Golden State Warriors is returning for another season.
Warriors 2015 draft selection Kevon Looney will be using his player option to stay in the Bay Area for the 2021-2022 campaign, according to reports.
Kevon Looney is exercising his $5.1M option to return to the Golden State Warriors next season, sources tell ESPN.
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Looney signed a three-year, $14.5 million deal in 2019 and will become an unrestricted free agent after next season.
Only 3 Current Players Have Been With Golden State Longer Than Looney
GettyKevon Looney and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors during a January game against the Sacramento Kings.
Looney was taken as the 30th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Warriors after playing one season with UCLA and averaging a near-double-double of 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. He was the Dubs’ lone draft pick that summer after they had won the NBA title in 2015, their first in 40 years and first of three this millennium.
The now-25-year-old only played in five games during his rookie season, but his playing time increased over his first four years in the league. Of the players on the current roster, only Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have been with the organization longer, as they were drafted in 2009, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
While Looney’s regular season numbers of 4.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists have been pedestrian over his career, he has shot a solid 56.6% from the field in his 285 games, including 70 starts. With the Warriors battling numerous injuries in the 2020-2021 campaign – notably to rookie center James Wiseman – Looney played in 61 games this past season, including a career-high 34 starts.
He also is coming off of a year where he averaged career-bests in minutes played (19.0), rebounds (5.3) and assists per contest (2.0). Looney’s career highlights may have been from the 2019 playoffs though, where after he appeared in a career-high 80 regular season games, he carried the momentum into the postseason and was a big piece off of the Warriors’ bench.
In the Dubs’ Last Playoff Run, Looney Put up Career-Best Numbers
GettyPortland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter defends Kevon Looney of the Golden State Warriors during Game Four of the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
Numbers-wise, Looney’s best stretch of games in his NBA career was during the 2019 NBA playoffs, specifically in Golden State’s four-game sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals. In a tight, come-from-behind 114-111 Game Two win, Looney went 6-for-6 from the field and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes off of the bench.
In the Game Four clincher – a 119-117 overtime affair – Looney posted a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double, with most of his damage coming in crunch time with 10 points and nine boards in the second half and overtime combined. For the series, Looney averaged 10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds, and went 18-for-23 from the field – good for 78.3% in his 110 minutes of court time, which trailed only Curry, Thompson and Green.
All of this came when Looney was just 22 years old and now, having turned 25 earlier this year, the Warriors look to have the Milwaukee native back in stow as a primary option off the bench for another postseason run.
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