Warriors guard Stephen Curry is embraced by teammates Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damion Lee with headband and Kevon Looney, wearing white T-shirt, after winning the NBA championship with a 103-90 win over Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston on June 16, 2022.
Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
What happens when you remove a foundational piece?
The base is unstable. The structure wobbles. Sometimes it falls apart.
A long time ago, during the Western Conference finals against Portland, head coach Steve Kerr casually dropped the observation that “Kevon Looney has become one of our foundational pieces.”
Article continues below this ad
It was a fact. One that became ingrained in Golden State Warriors culture and lore. And the next six years only proved the point. Looney was indispensable: a rock, a touchstone, a mentor, a steady and selfless presence.
Now he’s gone. Off to New Orleans for a two-year, $16 million deal with the Pelicans that exceeded what the Warriors would offer him as they rejigger their roster to try to find more offense out of the center spot. He’ll be reunited with former teammate Jordan Poole, who expressed delight on social media. He will leave a massive hole in the Warriors locker room.
And now we find out what happens when another key part of the Warriors’ structure is removed. When the institutional knowledge and cultural identity rests with just two players.
For outsiders, Looney’s departure is a footnote. Who cares about a guy with such an inconsequential statistical line — career averages of 5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 18.5% from 3-point range?
Article continues below this ad
But Looney’s career and impact go well beyond his numbers. Which, like so much else that Looney imparted to younger players, is a lesson to be learned.
Drafted at the end of the first round in 2015, after one year at UCLA, the former Milwaukee prep legend looked like a bust. He had surgery on both his hips as a rookie and missed much of the next season with injuries and was inactive through the Warriors’ second championship run.
But that offseason, he remade himself through diet and a new training regime and became a regular rotational player. In the 2017-18 playoffs, he was a revelation, switching onto guards — including James Harden in the Western Conference finals — and holding his own defensively. When Kerr uttered his “foundational piece” quote in the next postseason, Looney was coming off a 12-point, 14-rebound game that helped to close out the Trail Blazers and get to another NBA Finals.
Over the next few seasons, as the Warriors got younger, Looney was a bridge between team legends and new players. He was a humble, selfless presence, never complaining about playing time, his starting spot, what his role should be. He was the son of a blue-collar man from Milwaukee who worked two jobs while Looney was growing up, and he channeled that work ethic into his basketball career.
“Growing up, watching him work seven days a week and never complain about nothing,” Looney said once. “Just go to work, clock in, clock out, come home and still have time for me and the family — that was how I learned to be a professional.”
Article continues below this ad
Looney’s impact behind the scenes was constant, but it came into the spotlight during the 2022 playoffs. After a blowout loss to Memphis in Game 5 of the second round, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green went to Mike Brown — subbing in at head coach for Kerr — and begged him to start Looney in Game 6. Looney, battling Steven Adams, responded with a monster game, grabbing a career-high 22 rebounds and helping eliminate the Grizzlies.
That year, in the Western Conference finals against Dallas, he had a career high in scoring with 21 points and the adoring Chase Center crowd rewarded him with “MVP!” chants, which Looney said he found “nerve-racking.”
That postseason, Looney won his third championship ring. He was also in the midst of a stretch of 290 straight games played, including parts of the 2020-21 and 2023-24 seasons and every game of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
Looney was a key defensive presence: his communication with Green on that end became second nature. It was always problematic playing the two together because of the lack of offense their pairing on the floor created. But it was magic when it was happening.
Along the way, his nicknames started to pile up. He was called Pro, the Rock, the Moral Compass. And, most often, “Looooooon” — Chase Center’s deafening response to every rebound he grabbed and every basket he tipped in.
Article continues below this ad
And of course, he was also known as the Foundational Piece, one that helped the Warriors transition into the future.
But now it will be a future without Looney.
“Our team has changed quite a bit,” Kerr said during the 2022 playoffs. “We lost a lot of talent, a lot of veterans. We needed Loon’s leadership. His size and strength inside, his knowledge, his wisdom. …
“I don’t know where we’d be without him.”
Article continues below this ad
They’re going to find out. It could be a little wobbly.
