Looney’s difficult return
Neuropathic pain means an uncertain future for big man in Warriors’ title runs
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr sometimes jokes that, though other players are low maintenance, Kevon Looney is no maintenance. Regardless of whether it’s a preseason game or Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Looney is content throwing down putback dunks, setting screens and defending all five positions.
But last month, Kevin Looney saw his youngest son grow anxious. Kevon — long the family’s steadying presence — struggled to find answers for a neuropathic condition that threatened to derail his career. His shoulders would tighten as he pondered hypotheticals: What if he would never be the same player? Would the Warriors regret having signed him to a threeyear, $15 million deal last summer?
“We stayed upbeat for him, but you really don’t know,” said Kevin, who lives in Walnut Creek with Kevon’s mother, Victoria. “The unknown can always be a bit frightening.”
Two weeks after he returned from missing more than a month with chronic pain that stems from damaged or injured nerves, Looney, 23, is a far cry from the smallball center Kerr called a “foundational piece” last spring. In eight games this season, Looney has averaged 2.8 points on 32.1% shooting, three rebounds and 1.8 fouls in 11.4 minutes.
According to NBA.com, opponents have outscored the Warriors by a 34.3 net rating with him on the floor. That number plummets to 8.2 when Looney sits.
Kerr knew such oncourt issues were possible when the Warriors cleared Loo
ney this month, but he believes Looney will return to his reliable ways in coming weeks. This is someone who, before he logged 15 minutes in a Dec. 2 loss to the Hawks, hadn’t played more than 10 minutes in an NBA game in nearly half a year.
It also didn’t help that Looney barely participated in basketball activities last summer as he recovered from a chest injury he suffered during June’s Finals. All of that time off prevented him from acclimating to nine new teammates, most of whom have seized major roles in a lotterybound season.
In addition to getting his wind back, Looney must learn where he fits in newlook lineups. At times, he runs toward the spots he was accustomed to hitting last season, only to find a teammate already there. With so much to learn on the fly, Looney is having a tough time executing the subtleties that had long been his specialty.
He isn’t one of the Warriors’ most athletic players, but he earned his big contract extension by being one of their most dependable. Seldom was Looney out of position defensively or slow to free up shooters with a screen.
“It’s really difficult,” Kerr said of Looney, who has played more power forward this season, trying to adjust to a new roster while getting back into game shape. “Loon, at the end of last year, was our best center. … For him to come back, deal with his own health issues, and then come back and not have any of the pieces around him that he was used to last year, it’s very, very different.
“But this has been a difficult season for everybody. We all have to fight our own individual battles, whatever those circumstances entail.”
Early in training camp, when Looney tried to do a spin move and felt his right leg lock, he assumed he had pulled his hamstring. But after Looney experienced similar pain three weeks later in the Warriors’ season opener, he learned that his hamstring tightness was part of a neuropathic condition in his body with which he had dealt for two years.
Pinpointing neuropathic pain is often tricky because it has few, if any, objective signs. Doctors must rely on a patient’s description of the pain to identify its cause and try to map out a recovery plan.
Though Looney often had felt numbness in his fingers, wrists, feet and elbow, his pain wasn’t serious enough for him to miss games. His recent hamstring issue was different. With no solutions immediately available, Looney feared the worst: Had he overcome hip problems early in his career, only for his body to fail him yet again?
“You want to be out (on the court) so bad,” Looney said. “You see those guys out there fighting, giving it their all even though they’re undermanned.”
In early November, Looney visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he met with specialists who gave him detailed instructions. Gluten was cut from his diet. Long a fan of steak and fried chicken, Looney became a pescatarian because meat is known to worsen neuropathic conditions.
At least five nights a week, Kevin made Kevon blackened catfish or baked salmon for dinner. Victoria, a preacher, prayed for him on the phone each afternoon with several church friends.
Gradually, Kevin noticed Kevon relax his shoulders.
“At this point, he knows he can overcome it,” Kevin said. “This will just be another part of his story, not something that’s lifeordeath or ruins his career.”