{"id":76974,"date":"2025-07-07T08:09:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76974"},"modified":"2025-07-07T08:09:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:09:58","slug":"warriors-looney-leaves-team-with-fond-memories-lots-of-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76974","title":{"rendered":"Warriors\u2019 Looney leaves team with fond memories, lots of feelings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"TVsIMT\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1920,h_1080,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_1200,ar_4:3,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/voltaxMediaLibrary\/mmsport\/theplayertribune\/01jzfnq0kq91373wem0a.jpg\" alt=\"Thank You, Bay Areaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa by Kevon Looney | The Players' Tribune\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kevon Looney never wanted to leave the Golden State Warriors or the Bay Area, but this summer, a big offer from the New Orleans Pelicans was too much to turn down. Sunday in The Players\u2019 Tribune, Looney declared that, even though he\u2019s playing elsewhere, \u201cI\u2019m Bay Area for life, no matter where I go.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">10 years in the Bay changed my life. Thank you, Dub Nation. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PlayersTribune?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PlayersTribune<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Zc4oBxV7Pt\">https:\/\/t.co\/Zc4oBxV7Pt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; LOONEY (@Loon_Rebel5) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Loon_Rebel5\/status\/1941891750009721049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"y3VGHS\">In his heartfelt essay, Looney made it clear that he felt grateful for his decade with the Dubs \u2014 and that it wasn\u2019t exactly his choice to leave.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"1zAOUu\">This was not an easy decision for me. I know that I\u2019ve had it good for the past 10 years, believe me. And year after year, any time free agency came up, I always said that if the money was even close, I\u2019m gonna choose to stay. This time around, though, it wasn\u2019t something where the Warriors made me a solid, competitive offer, and I would be able to pick between the two \u2026 or maybe give the Warriors a bit of a discount. That wasn\u2019t even an option this time, unfortunately. That offer never really came.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"G8LzcO\">The 10-year veteran said there were \u201cno hard feelings\u201d between him and the team, but there were \u201csad feelings.\u201d There was also a lot of anxiety at every trade deadline, because Looney decidedly did not want to leave his only NBA home.<\/p>\n<p id=\"0kosUv\">Looney occupied a unique position as a guy who joined the Warriors as a 19-year-old rookie and they didn\u2019t lose for his first seven weeks on the team. They only lost two games before the new year, while Looney was really only practicing after having surgeries before the season, so shy that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson claimed he didn\u2019t talk to anyone for six months.<\/p>\n<p id=\"7CtPsN\">What changed? Steve Kerr and Draymond Green screamed at each other in the locker room during a February game in Oklahoma City. After that, Looney realized that things weren\u2019t perfect, and that the team had a lot of fire, but things got messy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"OzPVPe\">Hey, how\u2019d that game end again?<\/p>\n<p id=\"FwTGXf\">\u201cAfter that,\u201d Looney said, he stopped walking on eggshells. \u201cI opened up more, and Draymond took me under his wing, Andre, too. I was able to really be myself after that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"NazDgy\">What was Looney\u2019s most memorable moment as a Warrior? Getting \u201cM-V-P\u201d chants during a Warriors playoff game in 2022 against the Dallas Mavericks. While Looney would often get \u201cLOOOOON\u201d chants from the crowd, this was surprising, so much that Looney thought, \u201cIs Steph about to check into the game? What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"iEEg8x\">One other takeaway from Looney\u2019s piece is that, despite the criticism he gets for his handling of young players, Steve Kerr was singled out for a ton of praise from Looney.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"ThSTv2\">With Steve, especially, the confidence he instilled in me by speaking on my behalf and letting people know that he and the team valued me \u2026 that was massive. All the kind words he\u2019s spoken about me during my career, they made me feel like I was invincible, like I could accomplish anything. He\u2019s a legend, and his support meant the world to me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"MftC9J\">Looney will miss the Bay Area, and the Bay Area is going to miss Looney. In the words of the man himself, \u201cNot every ending has gotta be a sad ending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"ZMFBZl\">It\u2019s still a sad ending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10-year Warriors veteran writes sweet sendoff to team, fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":76977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Warriors\u2019 Looney leaves team with fond memories, lots of feelings - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76974\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Warriors\u2019 Looney leaves team with fond memories, lots of feelings - 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