Kevon Looney: Why center’s return will be bigger for Warriors than you might think.

Warriors center Kevon Looney is no stranger to injury, but he hadn’t suffered one of the NBA’s most common ailments — a sprained ankle — until last week.

“I always joked that I never hurt my ankle,” Looney said Friday in his first media availability since spraining his left ankle in a Feb. 2 loss to Boston. “I guess karma caught up with me.”

Looney, 25, has been focused in recent days on rebuilding the strength and mobility in his ankle. He has had no setbacks in his rehab, and he could return as soon as Wednesday for a game against Miami.

Though the Warriors plan to still lean on smallball lineups at times even after Looney and center James Wiseman (wrist) come back, they recognize just how much a healthy Looney will bolster their frontcourt rotation.

Looney has averaged only 3.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 14.7 minutes per game this season, but he cracked the Warriors’ starting lineup a week before his injury by being in the right place at the right time.

Seldom is he slow to crash the offensive glass or out of position defensively. Looney is consistently where he needs to be for a putback dunk, a block or a screen.

In addition to shooting 62.3% from the field, Looney has committed multiple turnovers in only four games this season. His 1.8 fouls per game are the lowest among the Warriors’ frontcourt players. It’s no coincidence, then, that Looney is part of several of Golden State’s best defensive lineups.

According to NBA.com, the Warriors have outscored opponents by a 10.8 net rating with Looney on the floor this season and been outscored by 1.3 without him. Nico Mannion, who has totaled just 36 minutes with Golden State, is the only Warriors player with a bigger perminute impact on the game than Looney.

Looney has been studying film of how the shorter Draymond Green and Juan ToscanoAnderson have played center in his absence. Looney’s goal is to add some of the tricks they employ to ratchet up the pace and defend bigger players to his repertoire.

“I think I’m healing pretty good,” Looney said. “I’m feeling better each day. So hopefully when they reevaluate me in a week, I’ll be close to ready.”