Kevon Looney is not one to publicly declare his displeasure, making his recent comments on the Golden State Warriors all the more interesting and forcing fans to sit up and take notice.
The beloved veteran departed the Warriors in the opening hours of free agency over two weeks ago, signing a two-year, $16 million contract to join former teammate Jordan Poole at the New Orleans Pelicans.
Kevon Looney has voiced his frustration at a a lack of trust in the playoffs
Looney's departure from Golden State could be seen from a mile away, having lost his starting role to a rookie in Trayce Jackson-Davis two seasons ago, before being overthrown in the rotation by another rookie last season in the form of Quinten Post.
Looney was the model for professionalism and not letting his fluctuation individual role negatively impact the dynamic of the team, but even he drew tired of the up-and-down role during the playoffs as he recently voiced to Marcus Thompson on the Warriors Plus Minus podcast.
“We’re going up against Steven Adams -- those are the matchups I thrive in. But I wasn’t given the chance to do my job… Even in the playoffs, it felt like they didn’t trust me, and I really thought I had earned that trust," Looney said.
The fact that Looney felt as if Steve Kerr and the coaching staff had lost faith in him is a brutal conclusion given everything he has meant to the franchise over the past decade. He does have a point to a degree given Adams was so dominant on the glass in that first-round series, with Looney's 65 total minutes in the series almost half of what Post got despite the rookie shooting an abysmal 32.5% from the floor and 30.8% from 3-point range.
There's also a tough reality and realization that the Warriors came to, and one that was the right decision even if Looney now has some criticism for it on the way out. The 3x champion didn't really evolve his game in a way he needed to, at least on a roster that had such significant front court spacing concerns with the likes of Draymond Green and now Jimmy Butler.
Looney's rebounding and high IQ no longer made up for the offensive limitations, leaving Kerr and the coaching staff to lose trust as the 29-year-old put it. It's not really anyone's fault, rather just the evolving nature of the NBA and trying to fit the puzzle pieces together in building a roster.
Fans will certainly be happy that Looney was able to get another significant payday, but hearing him have some level of bitterness on the way out is disappointing though understandable.