“Dubs Talk” co-hosts Monte Poole and Dalton Johnson give their grades after an interesting offseason of roster moves for the Golden State Warriors.
Records are meant to be broken, and streaks always have an end point. Some have deeper meaning than a number. Some have a connection to the soul, reminding oneself of everything it took to make it and to never let anything break them.
Kevon Looney’s streak of 290 consecutive games played served as a daily example of pushing through the many chances the Warriors center could have decided to stop, all the chances he had to take a day off. The surgeries. The chunks that a ruthless injury bug kept taking out of him. The only NBA franchise he has ever known drafting his replacement, to then become one of the most reliable players on multiple championship teams but receive contracts that still showed some doubts.
All those factors are what made March 7, 2024, such a crushing blow. Not only for Looney, but the man who decided not to play him a single second in a three-point loss to the Chicago Bulls. Warriors coach Steve Kerr played with all-time greats and has coached legends of the game as well. Despite the numerous Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers he has shared the court with, Looney might be the one Kerr respects most, which could have made April’s exit interview between player and coach their toughest one yet after such a disappointing season for all parties.
Instead, it was a time of reassurance when Looney was facing perhaps his biggest time of uncertainty after already navigating so many roadblocks in his Warriors career.
“He’s somebody that has always been in my corner,” Looney said in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Bay Area. “He kind of expressed to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m always going to fight for you. I want you to be part of this team while I’m here.’
“He just expressed to me what I need to work on, what he expects of me. He always talked to me with the intention that I would be back, so he just expressed what I need to do to keep getting better and to keep helping our team.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24614171/1485631727.jpg)
But Looney’s return to the Warriors for the 2024-25 NBA season was not close to guaranteed. The night before his streak came to an end, Looney only played six minutes – all in the first quarter – of a 35-point blowout win against the Milwaukee Bucks and spent 19 straight games coming off the bench. Rookie second-round draft pick Trayce Jackson-Davis, who plays the same position as Looney, was inserted into the starting lineup for the final three weeks of the 2023-24 regular season.
Owner Joe Lacob was forthright in wanting to cut costs this offseason, and Looney appeared to be a possible casualty. His dwindling role showed the odds weren’t in his favor, and only $3 million of his $8 million contract for the 2024-25 season was guaranteed. Looney admits there was “a little doubt” regarding his future with Golden State, yet when the June 24 deadline for his contract to be fully guaranteed arrived, top decision makers paid up and kept him in a Warriors jersey.