The Golden State Warriors realized over 12 months ago that Kevon Looney was no longer capable of meaningful on-court impact, and now Los Angeles Lakers fans are already acknowledging that the veteran center's greatest contributions may be made from off the floor despite training camp still being weeks away.
While Looney will undoubtedly bring championship experience and leadership to the Lakers, his signing on a one-year minimum contract should be judged by his ability to be a quality backup center to notable offseason addition Walker Kessler.
Lakers fans quickly reach Kevon Looney realization Warriors already had
While there's genuine question marks on whether Looney can return to being a quality rotation player after only 21 games in his lone year with the New Orleans Pelicans, there's already an argument that Looney's off-court impact justifies the signing.
According to Maxwell Ogden of Lake Show Life, Looney has already displayed the kind of leadership and locker room presence that vindicates the front office's decision to chase him in free agency.
"Though there are thus risks involved in backing Looney, he's justifying the gamble by reminding skeptics that his greatest impact on the Lakers will be his ability to set the tone for the locker room," Ogden wrote.
No one's dismissing the impact Looney could have in the locker room, but he's a required rotational player first and foremost. This would be all well and good if the Lakers signed the three-time champion as a third-string center, but that's not the reality for a franchise who only have one player above 6'9" on their roster entering the season.
Lakers need Kevon Looney to have on-court impact
The Lakers are putting their faith in Kessler after five games last season, and a backup in Looney who two teams have now moved on from in the past 15 months. They will get some small-ball five minutes out of Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jarred Vanderbilt, but make no mistake that they signed Looney with the hope of getting on-court impact from him.
The Lakers not only let Jaxson Hayes walk to the Utah Jazz as a free agent, but they traded Deandre Ayton -- who could have been one of the best backup bigs in the league -- to the Washington Wizards after he picked up his $8 million player option.
The fact we're already hearing about Looney's off-court impact weeks before training camp suggests Lakers fans know he's unlikely to be able to hold a meaningful on-court role, and that his addition is going to be hard to justify once the season actually gets underway.
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