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Last October, it wasn't looking too good for Kevin Looney.
Despite the Golden State Warriors lacking youth and versatility off the bench (particularly from the center and power forward slots), the team chose to not pick up Looney's fourth-year option and thus making the 22-year-old an unrestricted free agent. It later turned out to be a numbers game since guaranteeing his contract meant going deeper into the luxury tax.
He can stop worrying for now as ESPN's Chris Haynes reports that the Warriors chose to retain his services for at least another year via a minimum deal.
Free agent forward Kevon Looney has reached an agreement to re-sign with Golden State, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 4, 2018
Sources: It’s a one-year, minimum deal. https://t.co/gzwjqxxTz4
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 4, 2018
The next order of business for the former All-American is playing well enough for a possible pay day in the summer or at least some security. Unfortunately, it's an uphill battle to carve your name on the game while playing as a member of the Golden State Warriors. Not only are the positions one through four already occupied by arguably the best (or at least top three) in their respective classes, significant minutes are also hard to come by given the versatility of said players and the propensity of head coach Steve Kerr to field undersized line-ups and a short rotation.
Then you add the All-Star behemoth center that is DeMarcus Cousins to the mix — your chances of playing or notoriety, drastically go down.
That said, at 6-foot-9 and with the ability to play at least two frontcourt positions, Looney has a better chance to start or be part of the upper tier portion of the rotation. And with Cousins expected to miss the first few months (and possibly be brought along slowly to preserve him for the deep playoff run), he has a good shot at starting for the Dubs.
