Kevon Looney Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Clippers, Thompson, Looney, Toppert

June 9th, 2019 at 7:06pm CST by JD Shaw

The Clippers are hoping to meet with impending star free agent Kawhi Leonard once he hits the open market, but the team has started to consider other options in case he chooses to sign a new contract elsewhere, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Leonard is currently in the midst of a historic playoff run with Toronto, one that may persuade him to re-sign with the franchise if the Raptors can seal the deal and win their first ever NBA championship.

Los Angeles has long been linked to Leonard and would have the cap space to ink him on a multi-year, maximum-salary deal if he chooses to leave Toronto. However, sources told Vardon that the Clippers have recently spent most of their time during offseason meetings discussing scenarios in which Leonard doesn’t choose to sign with the team.

Leonard, an L.A. native, listed the Clippers as one of his preferred trade destinations before being moved from San Antonio to Toronto last offseason. The Clippers could also choose to pursue Warriors forward Kevin Durant, Celtics guard Kyrie Irving or other stars on the open market, including forward Anthony Davis in a potential trade with the Pelicans.

There’s more from the Pacific Division tonight:

Warriors guard Klay Thompson said he was roughly 80% healthy when he played in Game 4 on Friday, Matt Schneidman of The Mercury News tweets. As of Sunday, Thompson said he felt around 90% and hopes to be closer to 100% for Monday’s important Game 5.
Kevon Looney felt “fine” after making his surprise return to Game 4, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, according to Mark Medina of The Mercury News (Twitter link). Looney returned for his team five days after suffering a costal cartilage fracture, displaying his toughness and willingness to sacrifice. He finished with 10 points, six rebounds and one assist in 20 minutes of work.
Former Suns assistant coach Cody Toppert has reached an agreement to join the Memphis Tigers as an assistant, according to The Athletic’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). Topper will coach under NBA legend Penny Hardaway, who was hired by the University of Memphis last year. Toppert registered interest from multiple NBA teams but was sold most on Hardaway’s vision for his program, Scotto notes.

Warriors Notes: Durant, Thompson, Gay, Lopez

June 8th, 2019 at 6:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Durant‘s return appears to be the only thing that can save the Warriors in the NBA Finals, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Golden State’s hopes for a three-peat are fragile as they head to Toronto with a 3-1 deficit. Injuries have hampered the Warriors throughout the playoffs, but the Raptors are the first team to fully take advantage.

There’s no guarantee Durant will return in time to make a difference and there’s not much evidence his condition has improved significantly since he suffered what was called a “mild” calf strain in the conference semifinals. Coach Steve Kerr told reporters last night that he will no longer provide daily updates on Durant’s condition.

“We’re hoping he can play Game 5 or 6,” Kerr said. “And everything in between I’ve decided I’m not sharing because it’s just gone haywire. There’s so much going on, and so it doesn’t make sense to continue to talk about it. He’s either going to play or he’s not.”

There’s more news on the two-time defending champs:

Since the injury occurred, the Warriors haven’t put a timeline on Durant’s return other than to say they’re optimistic he will be back, notes Mark Medina of The San Jose Mercury News. Kerr is leaving all decisions to the medical staff, which has determined that Durant isn’t in condition to play. Medina observes that a mild calf strain would be considered Grade 1, which have a seven- to 10-day recovery time. It’s more likely Durant has a Grade 2 condition, which would sideline him for four to six weeks. He suffered the injury exactly a month ago.
Medina identifies Rudy Gay and Brook Lopez as upcoming free agents who might be willing to take the Warriors’ $5.3MM taxpayer mid-level exception for next season. He adds that Golden State will re-sign Klay Thompson “for sure” and will take advantage of Kevon Looney‘s Bird Rights to keep him.
Problems at center are among the reasons for the 3-1 deficit, contends Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports. He calls DeMarcus Cousins “a disaster” in Game 4, unable to keep up with the Raptors after returning from a first-round quad injury. Looney, playing with a costal cartilage fracture, didn’t contribute much after halftime, leaving 34-year-old Andrew Bogut as the best choice in the middle.

Kevon Looney To Play in Game 4

June 7th, 2019 at 6:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors big man Kevon Looney will play in Game 4 of The Finals on Friday despite a fracture adjacent to his collarbone, Ben Golliver of the Washington Post tweets.

Coach Steve Kerr said that after receiving a second medical opinion, Looney is physically able to return to action. “The guy is tough and wants to play,” Kerr said. “The injury is in an area where it will give him a shot to play.”

The official term of Looney’s injury is a costal cartilage fracture. The surprising development of Looney’s possible return surfaced on Thursday. He was injured during Game 2 of the series.

Looney’s impact goes well beyond the stat sheet. He’s the most mobile of the Warriors’ frontcourt rotation players and serves a major role in their pick-and-roll defense.

Golden State will also have Klay Thompson back in the lineup after he missed Game 3 with a mild hamstring strain, though Kevin Durant remains sidelined with his calf injury. Kerr said he hopes Durant can return for Game 5 or 6, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post tweets.

Klay Expected To Play In Game 4; Durant Out

June 6th, 2019 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

2:37pm: Durant will be sidelined for Game 4, Kerr told reporters today (Twitter link via Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group). There was optimism that KD would be able to scrimmage today, but that won’t happen, according to Kerr, who added that the Warriors’ medical staff said the star forward is not yet game-ready (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).

Kerr confirmed that Thompson is expected to return for Game 4, and acknowledged that the possibility of Kevon Looney‘s return is now an “open question” (Twitter link via Murphy), as we relayed earlier today.

9:22am: Thompson will play in Game 4, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

8:47am: After falling to the Raptors on Wednesday night, the Warriors are hoping to add reinforcements to their short-handed roster in time for Game 4 on Friday night, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.com.

As Friedell details – and as Tim Kawakami of The Athletic tweets – the Warriors are expecting Klay Thompson to be able to suit up on Friday after he was ruled out just before game time on Wednesday. Thompson wanted to play in Game 3, but Golden State decided to err on the side of caution with the sharpshooter’s hamstring injury.

“The whole point was to not risk a bigger injury that would keep him out of the rest of the series,” head coach Steve Kerr said, per Friedell. “So that was the decision we made, and I feel very comfortable with it. Never would have forgiven myself if I played him tonight and he had gotten hurt. … Klay has done well the last two days; now he has a couple more days to heal, and hopefully he’ll be out there on Friday.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Durant, who has been sidelined with a calf injury since Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals vs. Houston, is getting closer to a return as well. The Warriors are “cautiously optimistic” that KD will be able to play on Friday, according to Friedell. While Golden State isn’t expected to practice on Thursday, Kerr is hopeful that Durant will participate in some three-on-three scrimmages, Friedell notes.

“If possible, we’ll get him together with some of our young guys, maybe a few of our coaches, and try to get him out on the floor,” Kerr said of Durant. “That would be the next step.”

The Warriors have said throughout Durant’s recovery process that he’ll need to participate in at least one practice before he gets back on the court for a game. While Thursday’s session won’t technically be a full practice, it should give him an opportunity to take some contact, so the team figures to have an update at some point after those scrimmages.

Finals Return Still Possible For Kevon Looney?

June 6th, 2019 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors plan to have Klay Thompson (hamstring) back for Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and are “cautiously optimistic” that Kevin Durant (calf) might be able to play too. That would leave Kevon Looney as the only Golden State rotation player unavailable.

However, even though head coach Steve Kerr said on Tuesday that Looney would miss the rest of the NBA Finals after suffering a costal cartilage fracture, Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com hears from sources that Looney isn’t ready to shut it down for the season.

According to Bontemps, now that Looney has undergone further evaluation on his chest/collarbone injury, there’s a belief that a Finals return may still be possible. More testing will determine what the next steps will be for the veteran center, per Bontemps.

Looney’s injury, specifically known as a “non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture,” isn’t a particularly common one among NBA players, so it’s not clear what his exact recovery timeline should look like. It seems safe to say that he’d be attempting to return well ahead of schedule though.

Given the cautious approach the Warriors have taken with Durant’s and Thompson’s injuries, I don’t imagine they’ll allow Looney to rush back before he’s ready if there’s any risk of making things worse. We’ll see if he can make enough progress in his recovery to make it back before the end of the series — even a potential Game 7 is just 10 days away.

While Looney may not swing the series, he’d be a very useful rotation piece for a Golden State team that has struggled to get consistent production out of its centers so far against the Raptors.

Warriors Rule Out Durant For Game 3, Looney For Series

June 4th, 2019 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking today to reporters, including Anthony Slater of The Athletic (all Twitter links), Warriors head coach Steve Kerr provided a handful of health updates on his banged-up squad. Here’s the latest on the injured Warriors, via Kerr:

Kevin Durant (calf) has been ruled out for Game 3. He’s said to be “ramping up” his exercise routines and will get on the floor at the practice facility later today for some individual work.
Kevon Looney (chest/collarbone) has been ruled out for the rest of the series. We already knew that Looney would be sidelined indefinitely, so this development doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
Klay Thompson (hamstring) is questionable for Game 3. He did some light work at shootaround today and wants to play, but the Warriors want to make sure the risk of aggravating the injury isn’t significant.
Andre Iguodala (calf) will play in Game 3. The calf injury Iguodala suffered vs. Portland is still bothering him, per ESPN’s Nick Friedell (Twitter link). But he practiced today and will be good to go on Wednesday.

With practically half of their rotation dealing with health issues of some sort, the Warriors may have to lean more heavily on role players like Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko, Alfonzo McKinnie, and Andrew Bogut on Wednesday. Of course, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and DeMarcus Cousins will play leading roles.

Any Warrior who misses Game 3 will have a couple days to try to get healthy for Game 4, which is scheduled to take place on Friday night. After Game 4, there will be two full days off in between each of the remaining games, which are scheduled for June 10, 13, and 16, if necessary.

Kevon Looney Suffers Costal Cartilage Fracture

June 3rd, 2019 at 8:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors forward Kevon Looney suffered a non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture and will be out indefinitely, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

The injury, which was discovered during an MRI on Monday, will sideline Looney for Game 3 and seems likely to prevent him from returning before the end of the Finals.

Looney averaged 6.3 PPG and 5.2 RPG during the regular season and has continued to be a steady contributor in the postseason, averaging 7.2 PPG and 4.6 RPG. He’s also one of coach Steve Kerr‘s best options in terms of defending pick-and-rolls. Looney suffered the injury during Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday.

Looney had 12 points and 14 rebounds during the Game 4 clincher in the Western Conference finals against Portland. He also scored 14 points in Game 6 of the conference semifinals against Houston.

Without Looney, DeMarcus Cousins and Andrew Bogut will have to play even bigger roles the rest of the way against Toronto. Cousins had 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in Game 2 against the Raptors, just his second game back from a quad injury suffered against the Clippers in the opening round.

Looney will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney To Undergo MRIs

June 3rd, 2019 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Warriors who exited Game 2 early on Sunday night will undergo tests today to determine the severity of their injuries, according to the team. As Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area relays (via Twitter), Klay Thompson will have an MRI on his hamstring, while Kevon Looney will undergo an MRI and a CT scan on his chest/collarbone injury.

Although both players were unable to return to Sunday’s game after departing with their respective injuries, they’re both hopeful about suiting up for Golden State on Wednesday night.

“No, I don’t see myself missing Game 3,” Thompson told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who writes that the club doesn’t view Klay’s hamstring issue as serious. Looney also said after the game that he plans to give it a go in Game 3, though he acknowledged that his chest hurt “pretty bad” on Sunday night.

“I’ll at least go out and try unless I wake up tomorrow and feel way worse,” Looney told Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). “Otherwise, I think I’ll give it a shot.”

If the injuries to Thompson and Looney are more significant that initially feared, the Warriors could be missing as many as three key contributors in Game 3. Kevin Durant also remains questionable for that game, with one report indicating that he’s more likely to return for Game 4.

Warriors Notes: Durant, Thompson, Cousins, Ponds

May 22nd, 2019 at 5:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Durant‘s agent insists that the Warriors‘ star remains undecided about what he’s going to do in free agency, relays Chris Iseman of USA Today. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s The Future of Everything Festival, Rich Kleiman said Durant won’t begin thinking about his decision until after the NBA Finals.

“That is 100 percent undecided,” he said. “I’m waiting on Kevin. That’s the truth. I think there’s a feeling that this thing is like war games and everybody is playing chess years out. But when somebody gets to the level of basketball that he’s at, you can’t juggle focus like that. There’s so many things he’s juggling too. He’s not scripting his future while he’s playing the way he plays and practicing the way he’s practicing.”

There’s still no timetable for when Durant might return after suffering a strained right calf in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. He has eight days until the championship series begins.

There’s more on the Warriors:

Owner Joe Lacob is prepared to spend big this summer to keep the team together, but DeMarcus Cousins may not be part of that equation, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Lacob indicated he will make max offers to Durant and fellow free agent Klay Thompson, even though those would push the Warriors to record luxury tax levels. However, Kawakami doesn’t believe the team can compete financially for Cousins, who will only be eligible for a 20% raise on this year’s $5.337MM contract if he stays in Golden State. He notes that management seems likely to keep unrestricted free agent Kevon Looney and restricted free agent Jordan Bell and is confident they can be an effective center tandem along with Damian Jones. The Warriors will probably have the option of adding Andrew Bogut to the roster again next March when his Australian season ends.
Health updates on Durant and Cousins are expected Thursday, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The Warriors will resume practicing tomorrow after taking two days off following the Game 4 win over Portland. Thursday will mark one week since Durant and Cousins were last evaluated.
St. John’s guard Shamorie Ponds had a workout scheduled with Golden State today, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. Ponds, who also had a session with the Bulls this week, is projected as a late second-rounder, but believes he can move up. “I think I’m late-first round,” he said. “And that’s my goal, what I’m aiming for.”

Pacific Notes: Looney, Durant, Lakers, Kings

May 21st, 2019 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

While it took him a few years to develop into the player he is now, Kevon Looney has become a key part of the Warriors‘ success, with head coach Steve Kerr referring to him as “one of our foundational pieces,” per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

“To be called a foundational piece, I never would’ve believed that,” Looney said. “Even when I was playing pretty good last season, I never would’ve taken it that far.”

With DeMarcus Cousins sidelined, Looney was Golden State’s most reliable non-Draymond Green big man against the Blazers in the second round, averaging 10.0 PPG and 6.5 RPG with a .783 FG% in 27.6 minutes per contest over the course of the Warriors’ sweep.

The next step for Looney? Unrestricted free agency. Coming off a minimum salary contract, Looney is in for a big raise, and it’ll be interesting to see how aggressively the Warriors attempt to retain him, with key players like Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson also up for new deals this offseason.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

The Warriors may have handled Portland without Kevin Durant, but Draymond Green said after last night’s win that they’ll need KD back for the NBA Finals, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com relays. According to Friedell, the team remains “cautiously optimistic” that Durant will be available when the NBA Finals get underway on May 30.
Magic Johnson‘s First Take appearance on Monday represented the second time that he has blindsided Lakers owner Jeanie Buss this spring, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. As Shelburne explains, Johnson spoke to Buss multiple times in the wake of his abrupt resignation and never went into detail about the grievances he had with GM Rob Pelinka and the rest of the organization, but he didn’t hesitate to air those grievances on First Take this week.
Buss ought to play a bigger public role on behalf of the Lakers as the team looks to move past its recent drama, opines Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times.
In addition to Jamaal Franklin, whose participation was previously reported, the Kings are hosting a series of other familiar names at their free agent mini-camp on Tuesday, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando, who identifies Josh Huestis, Amida Brimah, Josh Gray, and a handful of other free agents as some of the attendees.