Former Golden State Warriors center Kevon Looney has an important role with the Los Angeles Lakers entering the season, particularly given Rob Pelinka and the front office haven’t signed another big man beyond he and major offseason acquisition Walker Kessler.
Looney could be in for reasonable backup minutes in Los Angeles behind Kessler, but the Warriors will be quick to tell their Laker counterparts not to believe in offseason workouts featuring the veteran center working on his corner 3-point shot.
Warriors have seen these Kevon Looney offseason workouts before
Lakers fans are already salivating at the thought of Looney being able to extend his range and offer a new element to their Luka Doncic-led offense. For context, their primary centers last season, Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes, combined to shoot a total of three 3-point attempts in over 3000 minutes.
But everyone should pump the breaks on the thought of Looney adding an extra wrinkle to his game over the course of the summer. We've seen this multiple times before where the veteran center has not only worked on his shooting during the offseason, but actually talked up the prospect of stretching the floor in games.
Prior to the 2024-25 season -- which wound up as his last with the Warriors -- Looney spoke about taking 400-500 threes per day during that offseason and the various plays on the floor in which he might be able to get them up.
Let’s not check the “stretch big” box for Kevon Looney just yet. Dwight Howard used to drain them all the time as part of his warm up routine. Remember Jaxson Hayes shooting threes last summer? Certainly wouldn’t hurt if he can add a three ball but gotta see it in games https://t.co/dE1wh2Ypfh
— Trevor Lane (@TrevorLane) September 2, 2026
The reality is though that Looney has never been much of a 3-point shooter, and that his attempts actually went down as his career with Golden State progressed. His most attempts in a season came when he went 4-of-17 in the 2020-21 season, before taking a total of eight attempts across the next four years.
Lakers need Kevon Looney to return to his strengths
Rather than raise optimism of being able to stretch the floor in his first year with the franchise, the Lakers just need Looney to try and return to the strengths that he seemingly lost in his lone season with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Those strengths relate to screen-setting, passing, defensive versatility and particularly rebounding, having led to him being an immensely valuable player for the Warriors in their 2022 championship year and the following season where they lost to the Lakers in the second-round of the playoffs.
After appearing in just 21 games and being out of the Pelicans rotation for much of last season, the jury is still out on whether Looney can return to being a valuable piece to a playoff-contending team. We're about to find out as the three-time champion undertakes his venture with the Lakers, but don't expect 3-point shooting to be part of the equation.
Add us as a preferred source on Google