Warriors bringing back Looney, saying quick goodbyes to Napier, Graham.
OAKLAND >> The Warriors’ roster continued its metamorphosis Monday with the return of Kevin Looney and the departure of two guys who’d been with the team less than 24 hours.
The Warriors quickly dealt Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham to the Minnesota Timberwolves less than 24 hours after acquiring them in a sign-andtrade deal with the Nets.
But the big news for the Warriors, and the good news, was the re-signing of Looney.
Despite suddenly facing financial constraints with the roster, the Warriors still found a way to retain Looney. He 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 Rockets, Bulls and 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 resigning 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.
Both Napier ($1.8 million) and Graham ($1.7 million) had non-guaranteed contracts, allowing the Warriors to waive them before Jan. 10 without any financial consequence. It is not immediately clear if the Warriors received anything else in return.
The Warriors managed to retain Looney, though, by doing two things. They gave him 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 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 reserve.
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.
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.
FREE AGENTS SOON TO EXIT >> 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. ONE DURANT THEORY >> We may never know fully why Durant bolted the Warriors for Brooklyn.
Or, it might be as simple as cueing up the video.
Kendrick Perkins, a onetime teammate of Durant’s at Oklahoma City, talking to The Undefeated, said an ill-considered crack that happened just minutes before the Warriors’ victory parade in June 2018 hit Durant the wrong way. It happened in a televised exchange between Warriors’ president of basketball operations Bob Myers, head coach Steve Kerr, team broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald and Warriors players who were seated in a staging area prior to the parade.
If you saw it, you remember it. It was beyond awkward in real time. The New York Post’s play-by-play is instructive:
Myers and Kerr were standing alongside Fitzgerald. “I heard you tell Kevin Durant he could have whatever contract he wants next year,” Fitzgerald said to Myers.
“That was just for the media. He can’t have anything like that at all,” Myers said. Kerr interjected: “Mid-level.”
“I think last year you told Steph (Curry) he could have any contract he wants, too,” Fitzgerald said.
“Yeah, that was different. He’s been here from the way-before days. He’s earned it,” Myers replied. Curry looked at Durant, who tried to laugh it off but clearly wasn’t amused by what was happening.
“And there ended the Warriors’ cohesion, right there,” Fitzgerald said.