Golden State Warriors: Kevon Looney and Pascal Siakam have a lot in common

Player comparisons are always difficult to justify. No two players take the same developmental path to the NBA and growth in the league itself is often non-linear. However, there’s one comparison to Golden State Warriors big man Kevon Looney that is difficult to ignore.

Kevon Looney‘s NBA career took a while to get going. After entering college at UCLA as a consensus lottery prospect, injuries to his hips led his stock to plummet in the pre-draft process, falling all the way to the Golden State Warriors.

Selecting Looney with the last pick in the first round, the Warriors believed they were grabbing a potential top-talent with a selection that normally only allows teams to find role players. For the first two seasons of his career though, they got no substantive production.

Looney underwent a series of operations on his hips and played in just five games as a rookie. In his second year, Looney appeared in 53 games, but was unable to carve out a role for himself.

By late October 2017, Golden State had over two years of data points on Looney. Given the team’s sensitive luxury tax standing, they chose to decline his fourth-year option.

The Warriors were betting against Looney. Essentially saying, “We don’t think you’ll be worth $2.2 million next season,” a number barely over the league minimum. Then he nearly made them regret the decision.

By the end of the season, on the Warriors route to a championship in the 2017-18 season, Looney became one of the team’s most important big men.

His ability to use his length (6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan) without falling for pump fakes against perimeter players made him valuable in the Warriors switching defense.

Many in and around the Warriors expected Looney’s play, especially in the postseason, to price him out of their future. However, for whatever reason, the free-agent market for Looney never developed and he re-signed for the league minimum.

Last season, he undeniably became the team’s best center and emerged as an important cog in their playoff run. Then, as I followed the Warriors, I started hearing about another lanky big, Pascal Siakam.

The offseason acquisition of Kawhi Leonard alongside other pieces like Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka, and later Marc Gasol made the Toronto Raptors title contenders.

But, Siakam, who would eventually win the 2018-19 NBA’s Most Improved Player Award, proved to be the Raptors second most valuable player, behind Leonard, in the NBA Finals against the Warriors.

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Since his selection with the 27th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of New Mexico State, Siakam had been a useful defender for Toronto. His lanky 6-foot-9 frame with a 7-foot-3 wingspan (sound familiar?) gave him the potential to be a defensive force.

While he showed flashes of greatness in transition and in the open court, his overall offensive game lagged behind.

Last season, Siakam’s jump-shot took a major step forward and all of a sudden he could make open threes at a respectable clip. He began developing a productive half-court offensive game to complement his elite ability in transition.

Alongside Lowry and Leonard, Siakam still scored nearly 17 points per game and continued his growth toward becoming one of the best defenders in the league.

Watching the NBA Finals, I was surprised not to see much direct comparison between Looney and Siakam. Normally, media cannot help themselves in pitting players against each other.

Somehow the two 6-foot-9 players with 7-foot-3 wingspans under 24 who had grown into integral parts of their star-studded rosters just didn’t make the cut.

It wasn’t just a visual connection though. Looney’s numbers over the previous two seasons looked eerily similar to Siakam’s performance in the two seasons prior to his breakout.

Perhaps if it weren’t for injuries, Kevon Looney would have been the story. Once called the next Kevin Durant, Looney has lost a noticeable portion of his athleticism.

He lacks the explosiveness that Siakam showcases in the open court. What remained to be seen was how much both players had underneath the surface.

Even with Siakam’s growth, he still was playing alongside one of the best players in basketball. Now that Leonard is in Los Angeles, Siakam will become the focal point of the roster. In this season’s debut, Siakam showed how dangerous he could be in that role.

Looney was on the most talented roster in NBA history. Surrounded by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, it’s easy to see how Looney could have felt a need to defer offensively to others.

Even the secondary pieces like Andre Igoudala and Shaun Livingston were well-respected veterans.

Now Kevon Looney is the veteran. On this season’s roster, only Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Glenn Robinson III, and Alec Burks have been in the NBA longer than Looney. Yet, he remains just 23-years-old.

This is another intriguing piece in the Siakam comparison. Looney is entering his fifth season in the NBA (although you could argue he lost a year to injury), while Siakam is only entering his fourth and has already become a top-flight player. However, Siakam was 22-years-old before he was drafted.

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Obviously age and experience have an impact on growth, but ultimately a lot of that is player specific. Health and fit are key for most players in taking big steps forward.

Looney is probably never regaining the athleticism he once had, but now, on a roster desolate of scoring talent, Looney will now have an opportunity to showcase his offensive ability.

Reporters have suggested for a while that Looney had the green light from three and just chose not to use it given the talent around him. Now we may finally see him put his jumper to the test outside of practice.

Looney’s length and athleticism were huge parts of his stature as a recruit, but it was also his elite basketball IQ that allowed him to play point guard in high school and average nearly double-digit assists.

This offseason, once again, Looney found a tepid free-agent market. The Warriors had a bit more flexibility than in the previous seasons and re-signed him to a three-year, $15 million contract. Most expect it to be a good deal for a player with a relatively low ceiling.

Those takes seem to ignore so much of Kevon Looney’s circumstance. CARMELO (FiveThirtyEight’s modeling system), projects Looney as a “Future All-Star” and seems to think Looney will be signing a max contract the next time he hits free agency.

While I can’t bring myself to go so far, his track record of growth alongside the shape-shifting Golden State Warriors roster just might have primed him to follow Siakam as the NBA’s Most Improved Player.