JULY 10: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
JULY 3: Kevon Looney has agreed to re-sign with the Warriors, tweets ESPN’s Chris Haynes. He will receive a one-year, minimum-salary contract (Twitter link).
Golden State is able to keep an important rotation piece at a low price after opting not to guarantee the fourth year of Looney’s rookie contract. He will join Jordan Bell and Damian Jones in the Warriors’ center rotation, along with DeMarcus Cousins once he recovers from his Achilles injury.
Looney will receive $1,567,007 and Golden State will absorb a $1,512,601 cap hit, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors, who now have 12 players under contract, will own Bird rights on Looney when he becomes a free agent next year.
The Clippers, Rockets, Sixers and Hawks also showed interest in Looney, according to Mark Medina of The San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link).
Looney, 22, is coming off his most productive NBA season, averaging 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 66 games.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Great…now no one will beat the warriors
This is great because the Warriors took a chance on Looney drafting him in the first round and he wasn’t able to play his first year with his major hip injury. Looney rewarded them playing great his third year.
It’s nice to see Looney loyal to those who we’re patient with him and worked with him. With cousins out until January the Warriors will need Looney big time. He can go get his money elsewhere next summer… maybe get a five-year deal… he’s very young still.
Loyal only because nobody offered him more money or a bigger role. He is a solid player, playing with a team like the warriors can make the media and fans think a player is better than they actually are, but looneys defense on the switch, rebounding and screens are important. He is a good story and he knows his role. Bell is the guy who could end up being great for warriors he showed flashes last year, and jones will play more he is a big time athlete and has some skill he just needs to get comfortable.
Loon is a cool nickname too!
Good for Looney anc the Warriors. Good fit and a strong relationship. Warriors have bird rights now and with Klay a free agent next year , you never know. Every piece is important in the long run, unfortunately could see Klay go to the Lakers.
Not a chance. Klay sees himself as a warrior rival with his laker dad. He talks about beating his dad and out doing his dad, not following him. Klay to LA is just deluded laker fan talk, as usual.
I mean, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Plausible? Perhaps not. But certainly possible.
Not a laker fan at all – Klay is one cool dude, he is close with his dad- and he is a free agent and Lakers will have cap room.
Just saying when you have a run like the Warriors are on, there is usually a fallout where guys start to want to break out a bit and have their own identity or prove they are the alpha. Just going to be hard with the luxury tax for the Warriors to keep Klay, Green, and KD on the next round of contracts – realistically one or more will have to move on – and Klay has ties to the Lakers – it’s just a fact.
While I would normally agree with you, klay has said the exact opposite, saying he has no interest in going to LA. He s on record for the last 3-4 years saying as much (Not sure klay actually talked during his rookie year!) Plus, every free agent who can play will be tied to Lakers no matter what. It’s like the Yankees with baseball, and it’s a mindset shared by fans and the team. Los Angeles isn’t the city or draw it used to be. Hollywood is stale and floundering and buried under sexual assault accusations. The city itself is overrun with illegal aliens and wannabe gangsters. That’s without mentioning the ungodly traffic, and lack of real rail system due to earthquakes. Oh, and don’t forget the most absurd tax laws and by far most absurd legislation. Not saying the warriors will keep everyone, but they aren’t worried about guys leaving for the Lakers.
Nice. Houston and the Clippers both would have made sense (assuming the Clippers dont keep Harrell somehow), and I also think Brooklyn would have too, but obviously GS is really perfect for him.
Yeah I think if he dollars are anywhere Close Looney was going to stay. Makes sense Warriors gambled on him and really allowed him to heal and develop and I doubt anyone was overwhelming him with offers.
From the outside seems like a nice kid who works hard – with him, Jones, and Bell I really wouldn’t be surprised if Cousins gets traded or released – I Just don’t see him fitting the pace, work ethic, selflessness, and defense intensity of the Warriors culture
Hard to say, cousins has never played on a contender, always on bad teams. He probably just needs people with a pedigree above him, instead of scrubs trying to figure it out.
New Orleans was a contender, just not a favorite.
You’d be surprised how well people fit in when you’re winning ~80% of games.
you wouldn’t be surprised if he gets traded or released??? The all star starter coming back from surgery who they won’t get back till Jan/feb….the player that the world went insane about because he joined the warriors for only 5.7 million for 1 year is going to be traded or released this season to make room for damion Jones….. that has got to be one of the dumbest things I have ever read on here…I’m sure you’re a wonderful person but when u wrote this you were either trolling or have gone insane!!!
Why people keeps on hating on DMC he is one of the 2 best centers of the last 20 years man, he is an absolute beast, plays hard, plays fast, has great work ethic, so much so he might well be back in October, only thanks to him working harder than most guys, is selfless & better than just about any player in Golden State, no doubt he is (if healthy) at the same level of Curry & KD, no doubt about it, people have to stop hating him, still don’t know why people don’t respect him, one of the very top guys off the court in the league too, best at charity, the Bay area will benefit immensely by having him next year, & will very badly miss him when he goes.
Better than any player in Golden State he says. How many scoring titles/MVP’s/championships does Boogie have
Ummm Cousins is a talent. However look at his track record – he didn’t always show up in shape in Sacramento. He has some major emotional issues – off the court he has been pretty awesome to the community but he has had issues with teammates , coaches, media, and fans. And when I say he has gotten into it with fans , I’m talking kids.
He gets rattled in games , he doesn’t get up and down the court fast, and really is lax on D. Zach Randolph and Zaza have schooled him on the court. He gets kicked out of games on purpose if things don’t go his way.
More importantly – both Sacramento and the Pelican ultimately played better basketball once he was away from the team.
No one will know the real story but in the past year Cousin’s has gone from looking at a $219 max contract to playing for the MLE. There is a reason for this – injury and Cousins himself.
I don’t think he had a lot of options this year and supposedly he called the Warriors – he needed a safe place to rebuild value. Cousins will have a hard time switching on defense and Kerr is not going to play him every game even when he’s healthy. What is going to happen when Kerr sits Cousins because of matchups and Cousins starts to get agitated because he need touches and court time to maximize his next contract – I can see Cousins going off on Kerr and that will be it – off to Atlanta or Orlando for Cousins
Cousins called the warriors and wanted to play for them to build up his value as a player but if he called , he better. Stick to the rules . If things don’t work out , then he will be a good trade chip , Warriors got him for $5.3M, they can probably get some of their money back with draft picks which they need or young players with potential
The warriors won’t have to rely on cousins to be an all star every single night. They have enough guys that not everyone has to show up every game during the regular season. He asked to join the best team on a prove the doubters wrong deal. Here he can play on truly legendary team, prove he isn’t what he s been made out to be, while simultaneously not being pressured like he would on any other team, which would build around him. He goes into the situation mentally knowing he has zero leverage. They didn’t call him. This is a win win. If cousins manages to play selfless warrior style ball without disrupting the clubhouse he can certainly get a max deal from any team with space. These are exactly the kind of signings the warriors need to make it work. Vets on prove it deals and guys chasing rings. If it works they could convince a similar player to do the same thing next year.