LAS VEGAS – After clearing a major hurdle Friday night in Denver, Warriors forward Kevon Looney will try to take a massive leap on his NBA journey Saturday night in the gambling capital of the world.
He’ll start at power forward in place of Draymond Green against the Lakers in a preseason game at T-Mobile Arena.
Looney will join forward Kevin Durant, center Zaza Pachulia, guard Klay Thompson and guard Stephen Curry as the starting five for the Warriors.
“I’m excited for it and I want to take advantage of the opportunity, just play my role and be solid,” Looney said.
“He played well last night, he’s young, he needs the experience,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, explaining his reason for starting Looney. “It’ll be good to see him with Steph and Klay and KD.”
Looney is trying to jumpstart an NBA career that has been sidetracked by surgeries on both hips, the right in August 2015 and left last April. As a rookie last season, he played a total of 21 minutes between surgeries.
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Getting a start represents a test for Looney, as he played 14 uninterrupted minutes Friday against the Nuggets, scoring 3 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
“That’s the longest stretch I’ve played with the team,” Looney said prior to tipoff. “It was a good test for me. My body reacted well today, so I’m happy.”
Kerr chose Looney over James Michael McAdoo and veteran Anderson Varejao.
“We kind of know what Mac gives us. We know what Andy gives us,” Kerr said. “So the preseason is more about seeing Looney, seeing JaVale (McGee) and seeing them mix with some of the key guys.”
Kerr said he decided to make the change because it was the best opportunity to see more of Looney while giving Green a night off, who will join Andre Iguodala and David West as civilians.
“It’s a back-to-back, preseason . . . I didn’t think he needed to play today,” Kerr said. “I probably won’t play our other guys too many minutes either.”
“It just felt like a good time to give Draymond a night off.”
