Warriors re-sign Kevon Looney for three years, $15 million

The Golden State Warriors have re-signed Kevon Looney to a three-year deal worth $15 million.

Looney’s return is a huge deal. Not only has he been an enormous part of the team in the last two years - a “foundational” piece, to use Steve Kerr’s words - but it looked like he might be gone after this year.

Once Golden State swung a sign and trade for D’Angelo Russell, they were dangerously close to running into the hard cap, which limits how much money a team can have in salaries.

The Warriors were determined to find a way to bring Looney back, though, and ultimately they did, and for the relative long haul.

Let’s be clear: Looney deserves a lot more than $15 million over three years. But teams somehow still don’t pay for good defense and smart play, and Looney’s small offensive workload - and modest per game stats - likely repressed his value. Anything much more than $5 million a year and the Warriors would have been forced to let Looney go, but thankfully for them, that didn’t happen.

Looney was the Warriors best center last year. And despite already having four runs to the NBA Finals under his belt, he’s still just 23-years old.

This is a pretty pivotal move for the team.