Despite suddenly facing financial constraints with their roster, the Warriors still found a way to retain Kevon Looney. Looney agreed to a three-year, $15 million deal, league sources confirmed to Bay Area News Group. The Athletic and ESPN first reported the news.
Looney had also met with the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks, according to a league source. It is not clear what offers those teams gave Looney, if any, but the Warriors could have faced issues with re-signing him if he'd received an offer sheet from a competitor.
The Warriors entered free agency with an ability to spend over the salary cap on Looney since they own his so-called "Bird Rights." The Warriors were restricted to a hard cap, though, after performing a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets for D'Angelo Russell, a four-year, $117 million consolation prize after Kevin Durant declined the team's five-year, $221 million deal and went to the Nets.
The Warriors managed to retain Looney, though, by doing two things. One, the Warriors gave Looney a three-year deal instead of a two-year deal, which enabled the team to spread out the money allocated for him. Two, the Warriors shed salary. They traded Andre Iguodala and a 2024 first-round draft pick to Memphis for a $17.2 million trade exception. The Warriors also dealt Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham to the Minnesota Timberwolves less than 24 hours after acquiring both players in a sign-and-trade deal with the Nets. Napier ($1.8 million) and Graham ($1.7 million) had non-guaranteed deals. The Warriors are also expected to waive or deal Shaun Livingston before his one-year, $7.7 million contract becomes fully guaranteed on July 10. Presuming the Warriors make a move before then, the Warriors would owe Livingston only $2 million of his salary.
As for Looney, the Warriors had indicated they would spend what it took to retain him. He had posted career-highs in points (6.3) shooting percentage (62.5 percent), rebounds (5.2) and playing time (18.5) amid varying roles as a power forward and center both as a starter and center. Looney had also told Bay Area News Group and other outlets that he considered re-signing with the Warriors to be a priority so long as he did not receive an offer elsewhere that he considered too financially lucrative to decline.
Incidentally, the Warriors worried about losing Looney last season after he posted career-highs in points (4.4), shooting percentage (58.0), rebounds (3.3) and minutes (13.8) in 2017-18. Yet, Looney signed a one-year deal on the veteran's minimum after not landing any offers from various interested teams, including Houston, the Clippers, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Minnesota.
The Warriors will have 11 players under contract once the NBA moratorium ends this weekend. The Warriors are not expected to keep any of their remaining pending free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins, Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko and Andrew Bogut. It is not currently clear how the Warriors will fill out the remainder of their roster, which can be up to 15 players to open the season.
