Kevon Looney’s first visit to Chase Center in a different uniform brought a round of nostalgia — and a chance to clarify a comment that came up following his Golden State departure this offseason.
The longtime Warriors center — now with the New Orleans Pelicans — had previously felt that Golden State had forgotten about him toward the end of his tenure, as he fell out of coach Steve Kerr’s NBA playoff rotation.
But ahead of the match against his former team on Saturday, he made it clear that there was no resentment behind this sentiment.
“It wasn’t really difficult,” Looney said in a pregame press conference with Bay Area reporters. “Steve is a guy who changes lineups, and you have to wait for your opportunity, and he does that with anybody on the team. He just wants to win. He puts in the best lineup to win games. And so, it was a real disappointment. I know how he thinks, and I know what he’s trying to do.”
Looney acknowledged that the competitor in him wanted to help in the postseason contests he has handled over the years. But he understands how Kerr works – and why the decisions were made.
“As a player, you watch the matchups, and you just want to do something bad out there, make an impact,” Looney explained. “It was along that line, but it wasn’t a hard feeling. You know, in 10 years, I had a lot of good memories. More great than bad. There were times when I probably didn’t deserve the opportunity, and the coaching staff put me there, so it all balanced out.”
In July, a week after signing with the Pelicans, Looney spoke to The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II on the “Warriors Plus/Minus” podcast and expressed his frustration with his role.
“I guess,” Looney said when Thompson II asked him if the post was his last resort. “I wouldn’t say it like that, but at this point it felt like it was anybody but me. It wasn’t any one moment. Even this year, probably the playoffs. We’re going up against Steven Adams. That’s what I do. They’re not really giving me a chance to do what I do.
“It’s like, ‘Well, y’all don’t trust me? I thought y’all trusted me.’ They put me in at the end in Game 7, it’s like why did we have to wait for that point?”
Looney spent a decade anchoring the Warriors’ frontcourt with consistently stellar performances during three NBA championship runs, and he earned a reputation as one of the franchise’s most respected locker-room voices.
They will always outweigh the disappointments of his final season at the Bay.
“It’s all love – those guys are like my family,” Looney said. “When I come back here, I only think about our wins.”
Looney signed a two-year deal with New Orleans in June, taking on a new role with a young roster. But his long tenure and three rings ensure his Warriors chapter will not be forgotten, no matter where he plays.
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