GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 15, 2025

Kevon Looney

Media Conference

Q. Kevon, you've ended seasons a lot of different ways, with a championship trophy, not even making the Playoffs. How does this end of the season compare to you?

KEVON LOONEY: It's disappointing just because we thought we had a really good team, and to not have our full team out there to go out there and fight was frustrating. But the last few months of the season we really came together and made a run and did some good things and did something we can build off of.

You can take that and move forward knowing that we've got a chance to still be really good.

Q. How do you look at your future? You've been through this before, obviously. Who knows; you know that better than anybody. Do you want to return and do you think they're going to ask you to return?

KEVON LOONEY: Definitely. I think I always want to be here. This is where I was drafted at. Been here a long time. I hope the feeling is mutual. But it's the NBA; things always change, especially when you don't win it all. I'm just ready for whatever.

Everything is still fresh so I haven't really thought about free agency or nothing or the summer quite yet. But it's something my agent is probably going to be calling me about in the next couple weeks and figuring out a strategy and a plan to prolong my career as long as possible.

Q. Did Mike and Steve express the desire to keep you around longer?

KEVON LOONEY: Definitely. They expressed, but it's the NBA; things change overnight, the next day. They're going to try to do whatever is best to make the team better, and hopefully I'm in those plans.

But like I said, everything is still fresh. We didn't go deep into it or talk about it that much. There's a lot of time until free agency starts, and we'll see what happens.

Q. How do you view the center position for this franchise moving forward with Draymond at the age he's at and how the league is morphing? You have two young guys in here, you're obviously in here. How do you view that?

KEVON LOONEY: You know, I feel like playing center for the Warriors is a unique spot. We're not asked to do the same thing that everybody else does throughout the league. Playing with Steph is unique and it's a lot of fun. He wants what he wants, and Steve wants to play a certain way.

I feel like we have a good group of guys that give different looks at the center spot. I think that's kind of what Steve has always had since I've been here. He's always had three or four guys that do different things so when he wants to change lineups, do different combinations, we're all ready to go out there and play, do different things. I don't know what he's going to want for the future, but I thought we did a solid job throughout the whole year. Our defense was good. I think we anchored our defense pretty well. We played really well as a team at the center spot.

I think we did our job this year. Moving forward, it's on Mike and Steve to see what they want. But I feel like we have a good group that gives different looks.

Q. How important do you think it is to have enough minutes from guys that aren't Draymond at center basically to make sure especially over the course of an 82-game season that he's not playing that much center?

KEVON LOONEY: I think it's very important. I don't view Draymond as a center. I think we played him at center to make our lineups work. Adding somebody like Jimmy in the middle of the season is unique. So we had to learn in jail, on the fly, and he's one of the smartest players in NBA history, so Draymond was the best candidate to make that work in that short a period of time.

Given the off-season and time to really put a team together and really go to a style of play, I think Draymond can go back power forward and Jimmy can play the 3 and we can do different things, and that can be a different lineup to close or something like that.

I don't think Draymond wants to play center full time, but he will if he has to, and I think he can. He showed that through the Playoffs and during the season. Steve loves doing different things and different lineups, so having Draymond as a full-time center, I don't think that's something that he probably wants to do.

Q. What have you learned about the free agent process just from your previous trips through it?

KEVON LOONEY: That anything can happen. Big trades, big signings, signings that you never would think would happen always can happen. I've been fortunate to always come back to the same spot no matter what's been going on. But things change fast, especially around the draft.

Kind of always expect the unexpected, just try to stay ready. Hopefully the market works out in my favor.

But you never know. Just want to stay ready, stay sharp, make sure that when I'm in the off-season I'm getting better and controlling what I can control.

Q. How difficult do you think the last four years have been for Kuminga? You have a very unique perspective on the way Steve can pull you in and out of the rotation. Considering his talent, lottery position, future ambitions, how have you seen that kind of weigh on him over four years?

KEVON LOONEY: I think it's been difficult for him for sure. Being a young guy on a team with championship aspirations is always going to be difficult because you can't just go out there and make mistakes. You have to play at a higher standard, higher level. But I think it's been growing pains for him but I think it's been good for him. He's been learning how to compete and play winning basketball, learning how to work and be a professional. I think he's learning how to handle any different situations, be in different roles.

I think that's going to be good for his career. Having a guy like Steve who has a wealth of knowledge and he's been able to learn under a lot of -- from Steph and Klay and Draymond, now Jimmy. I think it's going to be to his benefit.

As a young player, you want to get a lot of minutes. You want to take over the league by storm and different things like that. But he's been able to learn and deal with adversity at a high level.

For him to be out of the rotation in the Playoffs and then get thrown in there and perform like he did in the Minnesota series, it's a testament to how good he can be and how much he's been learning and how much he's really watching film and learning the game because as a young guy, it's hard to get better by sitting on the sidelines, and I think he got better anytime he wasn't playing. I think that shows how good he can be.

Q. Now that you've experienced a season with Buddy Hield, what does he add to the locker room?

KEVON LOONEY: He brought a joy back to the locker room that was kind of missing a little bit in years past. It was a real stressful locker room; things were changing. We were trying to -- didn't make the Playoffs so we were trying to get back to that, to where we wanted to be at. So to bring somebody in like Buddy who's a hard worker, and no matter what's going on, no matter whatever his circumstance is, he's going to come in joyful, happy just to be around the guys and around the group.

I think he elevated our team, our team spirit, our team morale. He gave us a boost. He's somebody that everybody from the young guys to the older guys love. He kind of connected the whole locker room, so he's a great addition to our team and somebody that we really needed.

Q. What can you say about his iron man status?

KEVON LOONEY: He's been the blueprint for a long time. You think about the iron men across the league, you think about Mikal Bridges, you think about Buddy. And me too, I guess; I've earned my stripes. But Buddy has been doing it for years. He always comes in, he plays. He's a guy that is always in the gym, always at -- if it's something optional, he's going to be in the gym. He's going to be shooting, he's going to be working on his craft. I think he's a good example for the next generation coming up.