For a decade with the Golden State Warriors, Kevon Looney did his work within the shadows. Within the margins of victories. Within the crevices of defeats. Within the whispers on the bench and the quiet of the locker room. He set screens and wrestled giants, anchored himself as a pillar within the locker room, led with phrases and deeds.
“You may really feel invisible generally,” Looney instructed The Athletic in July. “However I do know what I convey. I understand how a lot it issues.”
That’s the factor about life within the shadows. Price will get obscured when it lives away from the highlight.
Looney discovered himself perennially having to show and re-prove his worth with Golden State. He thought he’d confirmed sufficient. However the group that knew him finest made it clear to Looney that his worth had expired. So, final offseason, Looney took the cash from New Orleans.
His tenure with the Warriors ended unceremoniously, quietly. He left the place he beloved feeling forgotten, solid apart.
“It was (not) one second,” Looney stated after signing a two-year, $16 million cope with the Pelicans in June. “However like … within the playoffs, we’re going in opposition to Steven Adams, and that is what I do. And so they (had been) not giving me the prospect to let me do what I do. And it’s like, ‘All proper, y’all don’t belief me. I assumed y’all would belief me. Y’all don’t suppose I’m that good no extra.’”
On Saturday, Golden State hosts the Pelicans, and Looney returns dwelling. Again to the place the place he made his title. Again to face the Warriors, the group for which he gave his all for 10 seasons and the franchise that ought to, ultimately, memorialize the three-time champion. One way or the other.
As a down cost on future honor, Looney will probably be reminded he can by no means be forgotten. Not right here.
The Bay Space doesn’t overlook its workhorses. Native dynasties at all times characteristic beloved glue figures. Looney gained’t be brief on love in his return to Chase Heart. It figures to be a shifting reminder of how the enterprise of basketball doesn’t inherently smash sentimentality.
Kevon Looney celebrates the Warriors’ 2022 NBA title, the final of three Golden State championship groups he performed on. (Joe Murphy / NBAE through Getty Pictures)
However at 29, in his eleventh season, Looney endeavors to show his worth to a league obsessive about scorers, 3-point shooters and athletic wings. The Pelicans paid for his championship pedigree {and professional} strategy, hoping it might affect their locker room (and their franchise star, Zion Williamson).
“I do know what successful appears to be like like,” he stated again in September. “I do know what it takes day-after-day, not simply within the playoffs. That’s what I wish to convey right here: professionalism, self-discipline, consistency. I’m right here to assist our stars shine and ensure the little issues are taken care of.”
Looney has solely performed in 9 of the Pelicans’ 19 video games, with six begins. He’s made simply 9 of 26 photographs, unable to seek out any sort of rhythm within the chaos of struggles. New Orleans’ season derailed earlier than Thanksgiving, firing head coach Willie Inexperienced, and the Pelicans personal the worst document within the Western Convention (3-16).
Groups with championship aspirations platform the blue-collar gamers who thrive on the little issues. Their toughness issues in high-leverage moments. Their contributions make the distinction when the groups are principally even. The bone-crushing screens, the clutch offensive rebounds, the additional cross — these sacrifices shine on the larger levels.
However on a bottom-feeder? Maybe Looney can show his worth there, too. In how he handles dropping and inconsistent minutes. In constructing successful habits. In speaking to the younger gamers who must ultimately pull New Orleans out of this.
Looney emerged as a frontrunner within the 2019-20 season. After Kevin Durant left the Warriors, and with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson injured, Looney grew to become a veteran voice. The Warriors went 15-50, and the way he dealt with that season elevated him within the Warriors ecosystem. Over the following three seasons, Looney would show he might make an affect with out 20 photographs an evening.
“I take a number of pleasure in that stuff,” Looney stated at Pelicans media day. “I take pleasure in doing all of the small stuff, all of the onerous work stuff, all of the robust stuff. The stuff that doesn’t at all times present up within the field rating. … Making an affect nevertheless I can, if it’s rebounding, display screen setting, diving on the ground, no matter they want me to do, I’m keen to sacrifice and go on the market and do it.”
However who is aware of? Possibly a extra aggressive group trades for him. Possibly the worth he believes in takes him to a brand new dwelling by the deadline.
Looney is an undersized heart who doesn’t stretch the ground. His deal with and midrange sport are higher than most would suppose, however not adequate to make it a characteristic of his group’s offense.
So what’s the worth of dirty-work specialists? Of high-character leaders? How a lot room is there on this league for throwback veterans and consummate teammates?
Warriors followers will keep in mind him switching onto James Harden on the highway in Houston within the 2018 Western Convention finals and holding his personal. And taking part in with a fractured chest within the 2019 finals. And saving the 2022 postseason run along with his rebounding.
They might use him now for a protection that Draymond Inexperienced says is missing pressure. For a locker room cut up between stars and kids.
That’s typically the opening in trendy roster building in at present’s NBA. Groups crave capturing and playmaking, as they need to. However the rugged glue guys slip by way of the cracks and go unrecognized. Looney discovered himself on the brief finish of each free company. A proposal by no means got here this time from the Warriors, who invested all their capital on the prime of the roster.
Now, he’s in New Orleans. They don’t want him to attain. They want him to be himself. To stabilize and mentor. To be bodily and impart the habits he absorbed in a dynasty.
A dynasty that can guarantee he’s by no means forgotten. Not round right here.
“I’ll at all times love the Warriors,” Looney stated. “That’s household endlessly. I felt like possibly they forgot about me on the finish. However that doesn’t erase all the things we did collectively.”
