Looney on track to return on trip
BOSTON — The Warriors view the rest of this season as an extended training camp for 202021, which is why they are eager to get center Kevon Looney back from left abdominal soreness that has sidelined him 17 games.
“I think it’s really important,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said after shootaround Thursday at TD Garden. “This has been a tough season for Loon. He’s been such a key player for us the last couple of years and, obviously, when we signed him last summer, we looked at him as a longterm piece, probably our starting center.
“It’s just been a really tough year for him. So, he’s worked like crazy to get back, and we’re hoping he’s back at some point on this trip. He’s still a really young guy. … It would be huge for him and for us if he can get back and reestablish his position on the team.”
After practicing three times in the past week, Looney is on track to return Saturday in Cleveland, Monday in Washington, D.C., or Wednesday in Brooklyn.
With Looney injured and Willie CauleyStein recently traded to Dallas, Golden State has relied on two undersized centers: Marquese Chriss and Omari Spellman. Chriss is expected to return next season, regardless of whether he stays on his twoway contract or has it converted to a standard NBA deal.
Spellman, though serviceable as a floorspacing center, is probably better suited as a backup power forward. Center Alen Smailagic has shown flashes of his potential this season, but the 19yearold isn’t expected to crack the regular rotation until at least 202122.
The Warriors are in line to land a topfive pick in June, but sources have told The Chronicle that Golden State isn’t high on the only center projected to go that early, Memphis’ James Wiseman. There is a decent chance the Warriors will try to sign a center in free agency this summer to round out its rotation, Kerr said.
Curry outlook: The Warriors won’t have an AllStar for the first time since 2013, but they do expect to have Stephen Curry back sometime this season.
“The players are going to play when they’re ready to play,” Kerr said before Thursday night’s loss to the Celtics at TD Garden. “Steph is almost for sure going to play this season. Klay (Thompson), it’s still unlikely.”
Curry, who has been sidelined since late October with a broken left hand, is targeting a return sometime in March. Thompson is widely expected to sit out the rest of the season with a torn left ACL.
With those two injured, it was no surprise Thursday that the Warriors didn’t have anyone selected as an AllStar reserve. Point guard D’Angelo Russell is putting up AllStarcaliber numbers, but few teams as bad Golden State have a representative at the AllStar Game. The Warriors have an NBAworst 1039 record.