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Kevon Looney tapped his chest and raised his hand in the air, his infectious gap-toothed grin wide as ever as the Chase Center crowd serenaded.
LOOOOOON.
The call always sounded like boos, but nobody ever booed Loon. They sang his name in unison when he dove for a loose ball or when the unsung hero made his mark on a game with an onslaught of offensive rebounds. On Saturday, the crowd greeted Looney with adoration as a tribute video played on the jumbotron to make his return to the Bay.
All that love for a guy who averaged 5 points per game.
And deserved.
Because Looney was more than scoring. His currency was in setting punishing screens, in wrestling inside with goliaths, in being a locker-room sage. For a decade, he was the Warriors’ moral compass, as Steve Kerr liked to say. He was always undersized for a center. He didn’t have a great jump shot. He was never the fastest nor the strongest.
But Looney had guile, grit, and guts. That’s how he became a champion. That’s why he’s forever stamped in the Bay. That’s why when he returned to Chase Center for the first time on Saturday, the memories came flooding back when he looked up at the banners in the rafters.
“I’d just like to be remembered as being a tough guy,” Looney said before logging 10 minutes in a 104-96 Warriors win. “A guy that showed up every night, a guy that brought his hard hat every night, a guy that never complained about anything. Whatever I was asked to do, I went out there and tried to do to my best ability. That’s how I want to be remembered.”
Looney is, whether fans recognize it or not, why people tune into professional sports. Fans can see themselves in his blue-collar style much more than they can in a 6-foot-9, 250-pound, billionaire LeBron James or demigods who can dunk from the foul line.
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Looney left the Warriors this summer as New Orleans offered him a lucrative deal to mentor its young players, including Jordan Poole. There were some hard feelings (opens in new tab)at the end of his tenure, as Kerr declined to insert him into the lineup during the Warriors’ first-round series against imposing big man Steven Adams and the Rockets.
But that’s just business. Looney’s career with Golden State was as unlikely as it was legendary. That’s part of the charm, too.
Surgeries on each of Looney’s hips threatened his career right after the Warriors selected him with the 30th pick in 2015 out of UCLA. Looney ever becoming even a contributor was a minor miracle.
Golden State even declined Looney’s rookie contract option in 2017 before re-signing him to a cheaper deal. He wasn’t supposed to be a key part of two championship teams and have a third ring at home.
“I had a lot of confidence in myself that I could have a good career, but I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Looney said. “Even the first couple years, I did a lot of winning with them but I wasn’t able to get on the court. Had a lot of ups and downs, they didn’t pick up my option. A lot of things that if I look back on it, it probably could’ve went a different way. But I stuck through it, I persevered and I was able to stay here for a long time and leave a mark on a team, a team that’s a legendary franchise. And I’m really proud of that.”
In front of a packed Chase Center, Looney got a chance to revel in his accomplishments. He’s the definition of a fan-favorite, and it showed.
Kevon Looney collects a rebound against the Warriors in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at Chase Center. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
That he was received so warmly on Saturday is a reminder of the Warriors fan base’s intelligence. They might remember him holding up on the perimeter in the 2018 playoffs against James Harden. Or him playing with fractured chest cartilage in the 2019 NBA Finals. Or his gargantuan rebound outputs en route to the 2022 NBA championship.
The Warriors have had emotional return games before. For Kevin Durant, and last year with Klay Thompson. The difference with Looney is he could never play to those guys’ levels. His talent wasn’t the same. In a way, he meant just as much if not more to fans because of that fact.
Looney played the game like any parent would preach to their son or daughter. An entrenched starter, deep reserve, or in and out of Kerr’s rotation, Looney competed to the best his limitations would allow him. He was always a “remarkable” teammate, Kerr said.
“Very special for Loon to be back here,” Draymond Green said postgame. “We’ve felt his absence this year, in the locker room more than anything. He played such a vital role in the pulse of the team. In the fabric of the team. He was one of the biggest components to that. So we’ve felt that absence. To see him come back here and get the love that he deserves, it was special.”
You didn’t have to be in the Warriors’ locker room to see it. Michael B, a season-ticket holder who declined to share his last name, wore a grey Looney jersey to the game.
“I’ve worn this at least 20 or 30 times previously,” said Michael, who works in IT. “Just to send any type of appreciation. The fans, I think the whole Bay Area loves Kevon Looney.”
Kevon Looney points to fans in the Chase Center crowd as the Warriors celebrate his return on Saturday. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
In the age of load management, Looney played 290 straight regular season games, a franchise record. He has played 608 career regular season games (now 10 with the Pelicans). The only time he scored 20 points was in the playoffs, when he went for 21 and 12 in Game 2 of the 2022 Western Conference Finals.
Even in his last couple years with the Warriors, when Looney couldn’t jump over a phonebook, he could still control the glass. He tallied 18 and 23 rebounds in second-round playoff games against the Lakers in 2023, battling with James and Anthony Davis.
When Looney walked into Chase Center on Saturday morning, he admitted that he was lost. He wasn’t used to entering the arena from the visitor’s side.
Hours later, after the final horn of the Warriors’ victory, he dapped up his former teammates on the court. Brandin Podziemski gave him a bear hug. Looney played around with Gary Payton II before his on-court interview. Eventually, Looney made his way down to the home locker room to gift his signed Pelicans jersey to assistant coach Chris DeMarco, whom he worked with closely for a decade.
Looney might’ve been lost at first, but the Warriors made him at home.