His arrival at the Warriors is just the latest example of Kevon Looney's lifelong penchant for good timing.
Imagine walking into the first training camp of your professional career and being the only player on the roster without an NBA Championship. It’s the type of circumstance that could form the backdrop of a tacky sports movie, and yet, it’s a very real possibility for the Warriors’ newest draft pick. At just 19 years old, Kevon Looney will enter the NBA surrounded by the most recent recipients of the game’s ultimate prize. His head coach is a six-time champion. His point guard is the league’s reigning MVP. And the organization he’s joining just won their first Championship in 40 years.
Good timing, huh?
While chance played a very large role in Looney’s path to Golden State, make no mistake, he’s spent the vast majority of his life refining his instinctual knack for good timing.
It all started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Looney’s love for the game was born and raised, just like him. The youngest of Victoria and Kevin “Doug” Looney Sr.’s three children, it was at the Looney household where Kevon received a thorough introduction to the game he now finds himself playing professionally for the reigning World Champions. Doug starred as a four-year player at Schreiner University in Texas and remains the school’s all-time leading rebounder, but it was the professional game that most captured the interest of his two sons. While growing up, they’d often be found watching NBA games on television as they developed an affinity for Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Kevon and his older brother Kevin, eight years his senior, would often go to the nearby elementary school for pick-up games where the Looney’s would emulate the acrobatic shots and dribbles they had just witnessed days, hours, or even minutes earlier. It was at these pick-up games where Kevon’s instincts began to take root. Older brother Kevin would fire up countless shots, while younger Kevon stationed himself in the corner to retrieve Kevin’s admittedly bountiful misses, and then feed the ball back to him for, more than likely, another shot. Much younger and smaller than most of his frequent counterparts, Kevon was forced to learn and anticipate the angles of his brother’s shots in order to overcome his disadvantage. Soon, that anticipation morphed into instinct, as Kevon simultaneously morphed into the most skilled player on the court.
At age 8, Kevon joined his first AAU team. By the end of his freshman year at Alexander Hamilton High School, he had already received scholarship offers from in-state powers Marquette and Wisconsin. Following his sophomore year, he was named Player of the Year of the Milwaukee City Conference and began to come to the realization that he could potentially make a career out of his talents. As a junior, Looney averaged 26.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 7.0 blocks and 3.1 assists per game, and led his team to a runner-up finish for the conference title. Then, as a senior, Looney elevated his game to national levels. With averages of 27.9 points, 12.7 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 8.0 blocks per game, Looney was an unstoppable force on both ends of the court, as he led Hamilton to its first league title in four years. He scored a season-high 45 points in his final prep game, an 84-82 defeat in the regional final. To his dismay, he never won a State championship, something that still irks him to this day. He became just the second player in Milwaukee Public Schools history to be named a McDonald’s All-American, and was also named the Wisconsin 2014 Gatorade and Associated Press Player of the Year. Naturally, Looney had his choice of schools to play at the collegiate level, and despite having ties to a bevy of major programs, Looney opted for a somewhat surprising choice in UCLA. While a storied program in its own right, UCLA was seen as an underdog to pry a top recruit out of the Midwest. In fact, Looney became UCLA’s first scholarship recruit from the state of Wisconsin since 1956. But California didn’t seem so far away to Looney. Due to his experience with AAU basketball, Looney had traveled all over the country and had come to be fond of the Golden State, and relished the opportunity to play right away. And play, he did.
He suffered a hip injury prior to the start of his freshman season, which he admits, affected his conditioning. But, once the season commenced, Looney powered through. He became the first freshman in UCLA history to record at least four double-doubles in his first five games. He stretched that double-double streak to seven of his first 10 collegiate games, as pundits began to project him as a potential lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Then, after UCLA had suffered a five-game losing streak, their longest of the season, it was the freshman Looney that got them back on track. In the best performance of his collegiate career, Looney posted career-highs of 27 points and 19 rebounds in a 14-point double-overtime comeback victory over Stanford. Had the Bruins lost that game, it likely would have been an insurmountable blow to their hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament. But, thanks to Looney, UCLA’s hopes remained alive. In the Pac-12 Tournament, Looney suffered a fractured cheekbone in the Bruins’ quarterfinal win over USC, forcing him from the game. Despite the injury, Looney returned with a protective mask for UCLA’s semi-final matchup with top seed Arizona. The Bruins were defeated 70-64, but the highly competitive contest solidified UCLA’s bid for the NCAA Tournament. Once in the Tournament, Looney continued to play with the protective mask, as UCLA advanced to the Sweet 16 before ultimately falling to Gonzaga.
For the season, Looney started all 36 games and did not miss a practice. He averaged 11.6 points and a team-leading 9.2 rebounds per game, finishing with the most double-doubles among freshman in the entire nation. He was voted second-team All-Pac-12 and named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, and yet, when asked to grade his freshman season performance, Looney wouldn’t give himself higher than a B-minus. While pleased with his personal accolades, Looney admits there were areas of his game he would have liked to improve further, and again wishes he could have accomplished more with his team. At the same time, he felt they accomplished enough to allow him to forego the remainder of his collegiate years and enter the NBA Draft. He insists it was not an easy decision to make the leap, but his desire to help out his family proved to be a deciding factor. He also admits that once the Bruins made their Tournament run, he felt a lot more comfortable with the idea of ending his collegiate career on that note.
After declaring for the Draft, Looney began to get a sense of where his draft range was thought to be. He worked out for almost every team that held picks eight through twenty of the first round, but eventually assumed he would go somewhere between the 15th and 20th picks. Then, on the morning of the Draft, a report surfaced eliciting concerns over the hip injury he had suffered prior to the start of his freshman season, initiating a wild ride that would take far longer to come to an end than he or his family had anticipated. As the Draft commenced and the order passed through the segment that Looney had expected to be drafted within, he felt an intense anxiousness. He hadn’t thought he would fall that far, and thus, never worked out for the teams that were picking in the latter third of the first round. As the draft approached the final five picks of the first round, Looney, who had been one of the first prospects to arrive at the Green Room prior to the start of the draft, got up to take a walk and stretch his tense muscles. As it turned out, however, the nervous energy wouldn’t persist much longer. Once backstage, Looney got a phone call, informing him that he had been selected by the Golden State Warriors. Minutes later, Looney crossed the stage to shake Commissioner Adam Silver’s hand as the 30th overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft.
When asked to describe his emotions upon hearing his name announced at the podium, Looney simply stated, “All smiles. It made everything better.” He remembers recounting all the hard work that he had put in since his days playing pick-up with his brother at the elementary school, and now that he had been selected, was able to look upon his unanticipated slide with a refreshing perspective. “It was the perfect thing for me,” Looney added, “I can come in and learn from the best players in the league.” It wasn’t the smooth process he and his family had idealized it to be, but ultimately, Looney’s fall to #30 could very much be a blessing in disguise for both he and his new organization. The Warriors were more than happy to add a player of Looney’s talent at the end of the first round, and now Looney enters a situation where he won’t be asked to do too much, too early. Not to mention, Looney admits he has a bit of added motivation as a result of his first round slide. When asked if he plans to hold that against the teams that passed on him, Looney bluntly responded, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.”
For now, though, Looney and the Warriors plan to take it one step at a time. He’s currently in Las Vegas participating on the Warriors Summer League team, getting his first taste of NBA action where his versatility will be put to use. He anticipates playing more power forward or center with the Warriors than he did at UCLA, but adds, “Like Draymond, I know I have to be able to play all positions,” and is preparing himself accordingly. It remains to be seen how much of a role the 19-year old will have with Golden State in his rookie season, but he admits he isn’t concerned with that right now as much as he is with gaining the trust of the coaching staff. He’s seeing the benefits firsthand of time spent playing in the D-League in the progress of players like James Michael McAdoo and Ognjen Kuzmic, and maintains he’s happy to follow that same path if the organization deems it to make the most sense.
Outside of his Summer League teammates, Looney hasn’t had much of a chance to spend time with the reigning World Champions in the blur of the last few weeks. Still, he’s looking forward to getting to know his new teammates, even if he turns out to be the only one without a shiny new ring. While he anticipates the occasional ribbing, Looney is quite pleased he gets to begin his NBA career seeing a championship banner lifted to the rafters, believing it will provide him with motivation and inspiration right off the bat. He sees it as great timing, and considering his expertise on the matter, he’s probably right.