Warriors’ Kevon Looney readies for ‘big’ Summer League
Updated 9:40 pm, Saturday, July 8, 2017
LAS VEGAS — Kevon Looney was a gangly seventh-grader in 2008 when he scored free tickets to see his hometown Milwaukee Bucks play the Washington Wizards. After the game, the Wizards’ second-year shooting guard, Nick Young, caught up with Looney’s family.
It was one of only a handful of times Looney has hung out with Young, his cousin on his mother’s side. Growing up in Milwaukee, more than 2,000 miles from Young’s family in Los Angeles, made it difficult for Looney to get close to the relative he long idolized.
“It’ll be fun to really get to know him really, really good now,” Looney said of Young, who signed a one-year, $5.2 million deal Friday with the Warriors. “He’ll be in the locker room, so it’s going to be a lot of fun this year.”
How much Looney will share the court with Young, who figures to slide into Ian Clark’s role as a scorer off the bench, remains uncertain. After two NBA seasons defined by injuries and limited production, Looney is still trying to show that he deserves meaningful minutes. It is why he has the most at stake in the Las Vegas Summer League of any of the 18 players on Golden State’s roster.
The forward had seven points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes in the team’s summer opener Saturday, a 95-93 loss to Philadelphia.
Had the Warriors not picked up his third-year option last October, Looney would have a tough time getting the front office to justify re-signing him this summer. Some have speculated that Golden State would be best off waiving Looney before training camp to free up a roster spot for a more promising young player.
Of all the moves Bob Myers has made since becoming the Warriors’ general manager in 2012, his decision to take Looney with the final pick of the first round two years ago could go down as one of his few missteps. The injury concerns that dropped Looney, who underwent hip surgery before his freshman season at UCLA, from likely lottery pick to the draft’s last guaranteed contract, have proved warranted.
Two more hip surgeries limited his rookie season in 2015-16 to five games. After a strong start to the regular season last year, Looney struggled in sporadic minutes and his playing time dwindled. Team trainers decided to sit him for the playoffs when he began to experience minor pain in his left foot in April.
As Golden State cruised to the first 15-0 start in NBA postseason history, Looney studied the players ahead of him on the depth chart. He envisioned passing out of the low post like David West, setting screens like Zaza Pachulia and guarding multiple positions like Draymond Green.
A week after the Warriors’ championship-clinching Game 5 win over Cleveland, Looney was back in Golden State’s practice facility working with player-development coach Chris DeMarco. Now, as the Warriors play their summer schedule at UNLV, Looney is in game shape. With only three other players in Las Vegas under guaranteed contracts with Golden State (Patrick McCaw, Damian Jones and Jordan Bell), he is poised to shoulder a leadership role.
Long known as an NBA-ready rebounder, Looney is eager to showcase other facets of his game. The hope is that, by hitting open jumpers and getting his teammates involved in Las Vegas, he’ll give himself a shot at a rotation spot come training camp in September.
“He’s just had some bad luck,” said DeMarco, the Warriors’ Las Vegas Summer League head coach. “He’s finally healthy and can’t wait to get out there.”
Added Jones, who spent much of the past month training with Looney: “He’s always in the gym. He’s always working. … He’s just going hard right now.”
Last Saturday, at a restaurant in Los Angeles, Green, Kevin Durant and Steve Kerr pitched Young on joining the Warriors. Green followed up with frequent text messages. Though he followed Young’s recruitment closely, Looney was happy to let his more established teammates take the lead.
“I was getting ready for Summer League,” Looney said. “This is going to be big for me.”
Briefly: DeMarco said Chris Boucher, who tore his ACL during the Pac-12 tournament while playing for Oregon, won’t play in Las Vegas. Still, Boucher is with the team working through his rehab. … DeMarco has yet to talk with the front office about the plan for McCaw, but he said, “I’d assume he’d be playing in all of our games.”
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron