A host of non-shooting threats in the front court has been a prominent issue for the Golden State Warriors, and remains a concern the franchise has largely failed to address over the past 24 months.
In fact, while the addition of 6x All-Star Jimmy Butler has been a hugely positive move since the trade deadline, the veteran forward only adds to the shooting concerns on a roster that includes Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Quinten Post has been a revelation with his size and shooting ability from the center spot, but something still had to give in the Warrior rotation with the recent return of Kuminga from a long 31-game absence.
Kevon Looney is starting to lose his minutes in the Warriors rotation
With Green, Butler, Kuminga and Payton all playing significant roles, there's only so many questionable shooting threats Steve Kerr can play in various lineups. It's Looney that's starting to feel the effects of Kuminga's return, with the veteran center playing less than five minutes in Saturday's 124-115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Looney has now played less than 6.5 minutes in three of the six games following Kuminga's return. He's averaging less than 10 minutes during this span, having averaged nearly 16 in the 31 games where Kuminga was out of the lineup.
It seems Kerr has come to the realization that Looney's offensive limitations cannot work within this Golden State rotation, and within the urgency of where the team finds itself with just 11 games left in the regular season.
Post's shooting is becoming all the more important at this juncture, having played a career-high 27.5 minutes against the Hawks on Saturday. The defensive limitations of the rookie big man are also on display, but that's just something the Warriors will have to play through moving forward.
Kerr even tried to inject some athleticism into the mix by utilizing Trayce Jackson-Davis instead of Looney for 4.5 minutes in the second-half. Whether that becomes a common theme remains to be seen, but there's little doubt that the trajectory of Looney's minutes are going down rather than up.
The 29-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, having last signed a three-year, $22.5 million contract with the franchise after the 2022 championship. Given the Warriors project to go deep into the tax next season, they may not be willing to offer more than a minimum contract for Looney unless something stunning happens over the coming weeks.