Nearly two months before the start of training camp, 14 of the Warriors’ 15 roster spots are filled for the 2017-18 season. The man reportedly on the bubble is 2015 first-round pick Kevon Looney, and while Golden State might be on the hook for $1.4 million next season after picking up his option, the time has come to part ways.
In his two seasons Looney has played sparingly, but appeared to regress last year after undergoing two hip surgeries in his rookie season, appearing in just 53 games while averaging 8.4 minutes per. Looney looked concerningly ground-bound and slow when he was on the court, moving more like a 10-year veteran than a player that should be starting to enter his physical prime. Looney’s hips appeared to affect his ability to run the floor and get shots off under the basket, where he was frequently blocked from behind attempting layups instead of dunks. Looney is apparently a capable shooter, but didn’t show any ability to space the floor, attempting just nine 3-pointers and rarely shooting from outside the key. With an impressive wingspan, Looney still has potential on the defensive end, but his slow footedness left him susceptible to being beaten off the dribble by more athletic players.
All of this would’ve been overlooked if Looney had an impressive showing in Summer League. After all, even if what we’ve seen hasn’t been all that impressive, the sample size has been less than substantial. But Looney didn’t look much different playing against competition consisting of mostly fringe NBA players in Las Vegas. Even more telling, two younger players also on the roster, last year’s first-round pick Damian Jones and rookie Jordan Bell, were far more effective than Looney, and are likely to play the same position, center, on this Golden State team.
The Warriors already have a logjam at the five position with the Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee and David West rotation. Add Jones and Bell (not to mention Draymond Green when it really matters) and Looney falls to sixth in the pecking order (again, behind two younger players) in the Warriors’ center rotation. This is a similar to where Anderson Varejão found himself last season, before being cut as Golden State experimented with signing a third point guard, and then eventually Matt Barnes in the wake of Kevin Durant’s injury.
Varajao served no purpose on last year’s Warriors team other than as a good locker room presence, which is the only reason he lasted half a season. Looney doesn’t have that same presence in the locker room.
The argument for keeping Looney is that he’s 21-years-old, is already paid for and (supposedly) has a higher ceiling than whomever is currently available, be it a veteran or undrafted rookie free agent. But the fact that Looney doesn’t appear to have made a single improvement since being drafted two years ago, might be an indicator that the hypothetical ceiling isn’t all that high after all, and the fact that Jordan Bell can immediately have a more substantial impact in every facet of the game the minute he steps on the court is another indicator that it might be time to look elsewhere.
Looney is not going to see the court in 2017-18, and his future is cloudy with the seemingly younger, better options Golden State has at the same position. While the Warriors have little flexibility to sign anybody if they cut Looney, the still have a few options as Danny Leroux pointed out in a piece for The Athletic on Monday. Golden State could attempt to sign a veteran point guard or wing (Norris Cole, Dante Cunningham, etc.) for a minimum contract, a position at which they are somewhat thin. They could utilize their second “two-way contract,” and sign a young player that could bounce back and forth from the G-League and NBA team. They could also try and trade Looney, which would give them a little more financial wiggle room to sign a 15th player.
Regardless, any one of those options would give Golden State a player that is likely to have more impact next season than Looney, barring injuries to two or three centers. If the Warriors keep Looney, he will likely see the floor less than he did last season, and then be cut after next season. Why not just make the move now, and take a flyer on a piece that might actually be used in 2017-18?
The smart move here is to wait until after training camp to move Looney, and give him one last shot to show the Warriors he has enough potential to earn the final roster spot on the best team in the NBA. Based on what we’ve seen over the past 12 months, however, it’s hard to see why anyone would be convinced that there is all that much to show.