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Golden State Warriors: Should they shut down Kevon Looney?

By Christian Evans

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 13: Kevon Looney #5 of the Golden State Warriors dunks the ball against the Toronto Raptors during Game Six of the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 13, 2019 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kyle Terada-Pool/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 13: Kevon Looney #5 of the Golden State Warriors dunks the ball against the Toronto Raptors during Game Six of the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 13, 2019 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kyle Terada-Pool/Getty Images) /
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The Golden State Warriors Warriors season is pretty much done.

The playoffs are a virtual impossibility at this point and after a year of struggling, it might be a good idea to rest players to prepare for an obvious win-now mode next season. So that leaves the question should the Golden State Warriors shut down Kevon Looney for the rest of the year?

Looney has struggled to stay on the court all season having suffered from a neurological issue earlier in the season which forced him to miss training camp the first month of the campaign.

The former UCLA Bruin’s return lasted a mere nine games before suffering abdominal soreness which has caused him to miss 39 of the Warriors’ games this season before his return against Cleveland.

Looney’s impact for the second unit is well documented, with his energy, interior defense and rebounding all assets for Kerr’s team, assets which despite the efforts of Omari Spellman have been greatly missed.

Having put out career-high numbers 6.3 points per game and 5.2 rebounds last season he was rewarded with a three-year $15 million contract underlining his importance to Kerr’s team. Looney himself expressed frustration to NBC Sports when talking about the season so far.

"“I just want to get my body healthy and work on my game,” Looney told NBC Sports Bay Area last month. “I feel like I worked a lot over the summer to expand my range, and being hurt, you’re trying to find your rhythm so you go back to what you know, trying to get back to what got me here. So, this season is about getting healthy and my body right, and continue to work on my game and get back to where I was on defense and work on the stuff I’ve been working on all summer.”"

It has been a painful year for the Warriors as a whole after a barrage of injuries depleting the team’s core for large parts of the campaign with Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, D’Angelo Russell, Draymond Green and Looney himself to name a few all missing large parts if not all in Thompson’s case all season.

Next. Top 25 Warriors of all-time. dark

It is a lost season for the Warriors without Curry and Thompson, the Dubs will likely not pull off a miraculous recovery to make the postseason and for meaningless games, they have no need to risk playing Looney who would benefit from a break to come back fit and firing in 2020-21

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