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00:00Top, screen set, Curry, on Jackson, step back, it's a three, no good, Looney, offensive rebound, touch pass to Thompson, finds Curry, Curry dribble drive, behind the back in traffic, no look pass, batted away, goes right to Looney, that's a break, Looney stops in the paint to Draymond, hand off Curry, deep three on the way with one on the clock, back rim miss, Looney again, finds Thompson, loads up a triple, good!
00:25It's madness, just madness!
00:30Come on, Looney, 21 rebounds, it's an 18-3 run, Warriors 105, Grizzlies 92, timeout Memphis, 257 to go, and they're going bananas here at Chase Center.
00:56Well, now you guys just made that a whole lot harder, it was already hard.
01:00I almost had a little tear come out right there when I heard him there.
01:04I can tell you what, somewhere, wherever he is, Steve Kerr right now is not having a great day, because he has talked so glowingly through the years about all the things that Kevon Looney means to this team that the fans don't even know, and the fans know a lot.
01:23But, but, the hard-hot guy, the glue guy, the, I believe that, did Steve at one point call him like their moral compass?
01:33Yes.
01:34I mean, it was like, the things that we have used to describe Kevon Looney through the years, and if you're just joining us, Looney has left the Warriors.
01:42Two years, $16 million contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.
01:47Mark Spears just recently said on the coverage that he's a part of on ESPN that there might actually be a statue for Looney someday outside this building.
01:57He has meant that much to this squad, and it, like, it's true.
02:02We were just bringing up the drafted multi-time champions for the Warriors through this dynasty.
02:09Sure, he's not Steph.
02:10He's not Klay.
02:12He's not Draymond.
02:13He just happens to be next and the only other one who can sort of claim that kind of thing.
02:18Kevon Looney has been a huge deal for this organization, and while I think a lot of us knew that this free agency was not a time where the Warriors had a lot to spend and their free agents could be gone, it gets a little different now that it's here.
02:35I don't know that everyone was fully braced for this, but Kevon Looney's time with the Warriors is done.
02:41I was not fully braced at all for this.
02:44I thought that it would be a case where free agency goes and goes and goes, and then the announcement is, all right, the Warriors have re-signed Kevon Looney two years and six million or something small and something that was, you know, not going to break the bank.
02:59But Kevon was going to be a Warrior, and then the word comes out today that he gets eight million a year.
03:05Good for you, Kevon.
03:06I don't think the Warriors could afford it as much as they love the player.
03:09All right, we got some calls on Looney.
03:11We want to talk about that.
03:12There's also a lot of deals that have gone down.
03:15The Brooklyn Nets have used a lot of their cap space on trading for Michael Porter Jr.
03:20Cam Johnson goes to the Nuggets.
03:22We're sort of looking now as the dust settles in the West, and we see who's rising up the board while the Warriors have not really made any moves as of yet.
03:31And then, and then, there's also this.
03:3595.7 The Game.
03:37Breaking news.
03:38How many calls have we taken this year of people going, you know what the Warriors need to do?
03:44They need to go get Brooke Lopez.
03:46Yeah.
03:47Now go get Brooke Lopez.
03:48That's right.
03:49Brooke Lopez has agreed to a two-year, $18 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
03:55That's not the Warriors.
03:56That's not the Warriors.
03:57That's the Clippers.
03:58That's the Los Angeles Clippers.
04:01He's backing up Zuboff.
04:02I mean, and I'm looking at the tweet now, shout out Wasserman again.
04:07You've done it again, Wasserman.
04:08Wasserman, you're on fire.
04:10Have a day, Wasserman.
04:11How much money has Wasserman made today?
04:14Dude, he's making some serious chicken.
04:16Wasserman.
04:17Yeah, man.
04:18Wow.
04:19Two years, $18 million again.
04:21$9 million a year.
04:21At this juncture, $9 million a year.
04:23If you're the Warriors, you can't really afford to extend that if you have an unresolved Kaminga.
04:28And you have a completely unresolved Kaminga.
04:31Now, we want to get to some calls here on Kevon Looney.
04:34Mark Spears did say some things just recently about Kaminga and the Warriors.
04:41Let's take a few calls, but I want you to stay right where you are.
04:44We're going to let you hear what Mark Spears said as far as the current trend between Kaminga and the Warriors.
04:51That is moments away.
04:53Let's go to Josh in Oakland.
04:54Josh, we thank you for the call.
04:56What are you doing?
04:58Hey, guys.
04:59Thanks for taking my call.
05:00I'm just sitting in front of Straw Hat Pizza getting ready to go into work real fast.
05:04But I just wanted to give a shout-out to Kevon Looney.
05:07Man, I was not expecting this.
05:10All these years, you know, Kevon has been a part of the team.
05:13And he's taken less money so many times when he's deserved more.
05:18Like you guys said, he's been a hard-hat guy.
05:21He's meant so much to this organization, to this team, to the fan base.
05:25I just want to say in particular, in those Rockets series, Kevon Looney was so huge because, in my opinion, I think he's the best big man at this.
05:37His ability to not jump and to stay on the ground and not bite on any of those hesitations.
05:43When James Harden would get the switch onto Looney, in his mind, he felt like, oh, this is the shot I want to get Looney on me.
05:52So he would take him, even though you can look at the stats, you can look at everything.
05:56When Kevon Looney would guard James Harden, he would put clamps on him just from his ability to not jump, to not bite on any of those pump face.
06:06So, in particular, Kevon, thanks for those because we love beating the Rockets more than anything as Warriors fans.
06:12And, yeah, bro, it's just end of an era, man.
06:15This is wild, wild.
06:17I thought Kevon Looney would retire a Warrior more so than I thought Steph Curry would, man.
06:22But thanks for taking my call.
06:23Have a good one.
06:24Josh, it's a really good one, man.
06:25Great call, yeah.
06:26It's a great call.
06:27Appreciate you doing it because, look, this is classically one of those situations.
06:33It's almost like, I mean, this is not a perfect comp, but you know how, like, you can kind of criticize your own mom, but you ain't going to let anybody else do it?
06:43Yeah.
06:43Don't you say anything about my mom.
06:44Like, let me say what I'm going to say.
06:46I feel like that's who Kevon Looney is.
06:48You might, if you're a fan of another team, you're like, Kevon Looney, what's the big deal?
06:53Don't you talk about our Kevon.
06:55We know.
06:56We know what that man has meant to this organization.
07:01And it's all the dirty work.
07:02And as you love to say, the lunch pail guy, Kevon with his jumper cables, all of these things, they're a big deal.
07:09They're a big deal.
07:11And that guy has worked his way into the hearts of the entire fan base across the board.
07:15I don't know one fan who has anything bad to say about the experience of having Kevon Looney on the squad.
07:24Exactly.
07:24And it was not always, you know, him being a mainstay.
07:28There was times where he would only play a little bit.
07:31And then you look through, as I am right now, at his playoff game log and the cut that Grandy played coming back in.
07:38He had 22 rebounds, 11 offensive, 11 defensive.
07:42And, you know, at times, he was absolutely essential.
07:46I'm looking at the Sacramento series where he had 20 rebounds, 14, 22, 13, and 21 in Game 7.
07:55We all remember Game 7 for Steph, right?
07:5850 points in a road win.
08:00Kevon played 31 minutes and had 21 rebounds in that game, the clincher over Sacramento.
08:05So, there were times when you really needed him and relied on him a lot more than normal.
08:11And I'm looking at these playoff games, Mark.
08:13He was phenomenal in that whole run.
08:16I mean, it wasn't much of a run.
08:17You lost to the Lakers.
08:18But against the Lakers, he opened up with 23 rebounds in the first game against L.A.
08:24in that series that they eventually would lose.
08:26He was phenomenal against Sacramento.
08:28Yeah.
08:28He was awesome.
08:29And, obviously, if you go back to the championship year, holy, holy crap.
08:34I mean, what he was doing in that Mavericks series and beyond was just, it was absolutely incredible.
08:41Only because Wiggins was so good did it sometimes get a little bit overshadowed.
08:46But as far as role players playing out, like, Kevon was incredible that year.
08:52And, in fact, as I'm sitting here saying this, you know, you go through the last 15 years,
08:58start 2010 when the Giants win a World Series, go through the past 15 years of Bay Area sports,
09:05remove the stars, forget the stars, and go.
09:12Who are the role players that come to mind?
09:15Yeah.
09:16And who's at the top of that list?
09:18And my mind is just running through, you know, there's the people who kind of did the cup of coffee thing
09:24for Giants championships, Scooter Roll, Cody Ross, and people like that.
09:29But, dude, there's no other Kevon Looney's.
09:33There's no Kevon Looney's.
09:34It's funny you're doing this because I was actually trying to think about the Giants comp,
09:38a player who was there in 10, 12, and 14, and somebody who eventually had to go somewhere else,
09:44and, you know, somebody that they drafted, and, you know, you think about Lincecum and Kane and Bumgarner,
09:50well, they're on a higher star echelon than, you know, Kevon Looney and Vogelsong.
09:56Vogelsong's a name, but he wasn't there for all of them.
09:58Exactly.
09:58And so, you know, Barry Zito, same thing, but he was also on a different kind of echelon,
10:03a different plane star-wise.
10:05So I was just trying to think about, like, was there a Giant who was there, homegrown,
10:10and through all of it, and, you know, eventually when they left, you were heartbroken?
10:14Because this is a different thing now.
10:16I mean, there's a little bit that he's not homegrown, but there's a little Hunter-Pence thing going on there.
10:24Because, again, Pence was not there for the first.
10:26Looney was not there for the first.
10:28Good point.
10:28And then they came in and became a part of the fabric of what these organizations were doing.
10:34Again, Pence was not drafted by the Giants, so that doesn't quite have that same emotional feel.
10:40Although, my gosh, if there's anyone who's ever been adopted by this city, it's that man.
10:45So, like, that's probably as close as I can come.
10:49And Pence also was, like, he was a middle-of-the-order guy when they were winning the, you know, with him.
10:56But I don't know.
10:58I don't know if there's anybody else who was drafted here and was a part of multiple championships
11:03and, you know, but never really achieved that, like, stardom-type level.
11:10888-957-9570 is the number.
11:14You're listening to 95.7 The Game.
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11:19the home of the Golden State Warriors and Valkyries, always live on the Free Odyssey app,
11:24coming to you live from the Laughing Monk Studios.
11:27How about Jason in the city?
11:28Hi, Jason.
11:28Thanks for calling.
11:29Gentlemen, thank you for taking my call.
11:33I'll first say that I am a little nervous about the Warriors' future.
11:39There's a lot of activity going on.
11:41Before the break, you said, hey, let's share shout-outs to Kevon Looney,
11:48and I'm definitely going to do that.
11:50But the other question was how I'm feeling about the Warriors this coming season.
11:55And, I mean, if we just do a quick evaluation of the West, we got OKC Denver.
12:01We got the Rockets in Minnesota.
12:03That's top four already.
12:05Clippers aren't going away.
12:07Lakers aren't going away.
12:08We got Wendby coming back.
12:10That's already seven.
12:11So I would love for us to be in the top five to eight.
12:15But right now, I think we're just going to be treading water.
12:17So I am hopeful, but I am not encouraged.
12:20Shout-out to Kevon Looney.
12:23I'll leave you guys with two of my favorite stats from that 2022 championship,
12:28which I thought was his crowning jewel.
12:30My second favorite stat line is the game six against Boston.
12:36He had zero points, seven rebounds, one assist.
12:40But my favorite stat line was the closing game against Memphis.
12:43Remember, we have to go through John Morant.
12:45So he had four points and 22 rebounds, five assists.
12:52I mean, that is a gorgeous stat line.
12:55I'm always going to have a soft spot for him.
12:57I hope we give him a big standing ovation when he comes back
13:00and we play against the Pelicans.
13:02That's what I got, gentlemen.
13:03Thanks.
13:04Okay, Jason, great stuff.
13:05Appreciate that.
13:07Yeah, the Looney part, you're absolutely right.
13:09And, again, if you're a Warrior fan, you know.
13:11You don't need to be told the importance of this guy, the moments, the big smile,
13:17whether it's in the locker room, just the steadying, calming force that he's been.
13:22Absolutely.
13:23Just, like, first rate.
13:26Now, his breakdown of the West was interesting.
13:28I agree with him on those top four.
13:30This is scary time right now for the Warriors because the Thunder are already great.
13:34They are now minted.
13:35Houston keeps getting better.
13:37They've added two more players today.
13:38I love what the Nuggets did in acquiring Cam Johnson.
13:42And the Minnesota Timberwolves have re-signed their guys.
13:44I agree that on paper, in this moment, those are your top four.
13:49He then said the Clippers aren't going away.
13:51Agreed.
13:52He said the Lakers aren't going away.
13:53Don't agree.
13:55I think that the Lakers are in a weird transition, and I wonder how that's going to work.
14:00And then he gave the Spurs a nod, which I'm like, I get it.
14:04Probably.
14:05They're on the come.
14:06I don't know exactly when they're going to be ready.
14:09You know, we've got to see Wemby get back in healthy, and all that they've done is they've added Luke Cornett.
14:14They're still very, very young at some key spots, Castle, Wemby, et cetera.
14:19But I also think the Warriors are going to do some things here.
14:23The Warriors are going to do some things.
14:25Right, but your premise going into the break was right now, 442, and now we're sitting in 503.
14:30And that's, I think, what he was responding to, because I agree with you, the Warriors are going to do some things.
14:36But what are those things, and are they going to be significant enough to move them up your list as we start to look at the Western Conference?
14:44I'll go six right now.
14:46You've got them at six?
14:47Six.
14:48Ahead of the Lakers?
14:49Yep.
14:50And ahead of the Spurs.
14:51Right, and I agree with that about the Spurs.
14:54I think the Spurs are still going to be a year away.
14:56The Grizzlies lost Bane.
14:57I know the Mavericks are interesting right now, but that's transitional.
15:01Flag's got to come in.
15:02Kyrie's got to get healthy.
15:03Kyrie, Oklahoma City, Houston, Denver, Minnesota, and the Clippers.
15:11I give them the nod right now over the Warriors.
15:14Yep.
15:14And even the Clippers, that's questionable.
15:16Sure.
15:17That's questionable.
15:17But even if you look at this past year, what was the difference between two and ten?
15:23It was like six games, right?
15:24Almost nothing.
15:25Right, so the Warriors could be 48 and 34 again, and they could be the eight seed.
15:31Or they could go 48 and 34 and be the five seed.
15:34Two and ten was actually 13 games, but two and eight was only four games.
15:39Okay.
15:39Yeah.
15:39Two and eight was four games.
15:41That's kind of what I was thinking about.
15:43All right.
15:43We're going to keep going with your calls, specifically on Kavon Looney, but we do want
15:47to enter this into the discussion.
15:49Mark Spears on ESPN just said this a short time ago with regard to Kaminga and the Warriors.
15:54There seems to be optimism in the Warriors' camp that he will resign.
15:58He will be a restricted free agent.
16:00This market's not great for him.
16:02And one NBA GM told me, it's like, what has he proven to be worth what his agent wants,
16:07which is $25-plus million?
16:09Who has that money for him?
16:12Why does he deserve that?
16:13But then on the flip side, if he returns to the Warriors, like, what's his role?
16:17And can he reach his full potential there?
16:19Yeah, and so if I'm Jonathan, I'm in a really weird spot right now.
16:24The money's not here this summer.
16:25Maybe it's next summer.
16:26But either way, there's a lot of question marks.
16:29Okay.
16:29So I love this commentary because Spears starts out with a lot of optimism that Kaminga's going
16:36to sign and come back.
16:39And then they go through all the reasons why that's kind of challenging.
16:43Now, here's my, and I'll call it what it is.
16:48This is my uneducated kind of read on this.
16:51I'm just listening to people talk.
16:53I'm not dialed in on the inside by any stretch.
16:56But to me, everything between these two sides right now feels like negotiating in public.
17:02It almost feels like a threat.
17:04It feels like posturing a little bit, right?
17:07Because let's say there is a deal on the table.
17:10Let's say it's with the Miami Heat.
17:12Well, if you're going to do a sign and trade, that means he needs to sign.
17:15That means he needs to agree to at least a three-year contract.
17:18He probably doesn't like the number.
17:20And the Warriors are almost threatening with, okay, then you can, you know, come back here,
17:27boom, boom, boom.
17:29Right.
17:29And watch basketball for another year.
17:32I don't know that they would play it that way.
17:34That's not what I'm saying.
17:35Right.
17:35And they also could do it on the qualifying offer, which is just shy of $8 million.
17:39Nothing.
17:40Exactly.
17:41So, like, when he says that, there's optimism that he'll sign.
17:44It's kind of a funny statement.
17:46I don't know that that's what the Warriors actually want.
17:48And I'm pretty sure it's not what Jonathan wants.
17:51So this idea that, like, ooh, optimism, he might come back.
17:55Well, optimism is the wrong word.
17:58Is that what you want?
17:59Is that what anyone wants?
18:01I know there's some fans who want it, but, like, they got to it.
18:05They asked the question right after the idea.
18:07It's like, ooh, he might come back.
18:08But if he does, what the hell is his role?
18:11Is that what we want the big training camp story to be?
18:16What the hell?
18:16Is Jonathan going to play this year?
18:19Is he starting?
18:2116 minutes off the bench?
18:22That's right.
18:23Like, what are we going to do?
18:25A whole year of that is not what anybody wants.
18:29And, you know, we talked about it before with the whole summer of Brandon Iyuk.
18:33And, you know, Iyuk, Willi, Erwone, and the rest of it.
18:36And, you know, we spent all that time.
18:38And then he finally signs, and then he got hurt.
18:40And so that topic still kind of exists.
18:43And so the Warriors don't want that.
18:45And Kaminga certainly doesn't want to come back to this uncertainty about his role.
18:49One other small signing that has just come down, free agent center Luke Garza,
18:55Luka Garza, sorry, has agreed to a two-year, five-and-a-half million-dollar deal
19:00with the Boston Celtics.
19:02So there's your Luke Cornett replacement, essentially, for a lot less money.
19:07Luka Garza goes to the Boston Celtics.
19:11I also want to shout out all of the texts that came in with Giants champion comps
19:16to Kavon Looney, and some of them are good.
19:17But there's a lot of Brandon Belts.
19:19There's a lot of Sergio Romos.
19:21I want to point out the 4-1-5 with probably the best one, Brandon Crawford.
19:26That's probably your Looney comp.
19:28That's really good.
19:29Really good, yeah.
19:31You're drafted.
19:32You came up.
19:33People weren't really sold on you.
19:35But, man, you just stayed.
19:37Did he win all three, or did he just get the two?
19:39Brandon was two.
19:4112 and 14.
19:42Yeah, Brandon was two.
19:43So it's the same thing.
19:44He came up after they had already won.
19:45But then he was able to kind of work his way into a lunch pail type of a role, stick and stay for a long time.
19:52And then at the end of his career, go dip his toe in the water with another organization.
19:56But you know he's going to circle back around to be celebrated after retirement.
20:00Yeah, that's actually a good comp.
20:02That's a great one.
20:02The Brandon Belt one, too.
20:04But something about Belt, I think the, and I'm not going to say infuriated Giants fans,
20:09but you always were more frustrated with Belt than you were with Kavon.
20:13And even with Crawford, like, he had a couple of great monster offensive years.
20:17But by and large, he was just, you know, offensively a guy.
20:21And so, you know, like Kavon, he was beloved.
20:24Brandon Crawford, beloved.
20:25Kavon, the same.
20:27No doubt about it.