The undersized center continues to excel for Golden State during the postseason. However, many fans didn’t know that Kevon Looney is the cousin of a former Warrior, and that they were even teammates.
The Golden State Warriors are currently taking on the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals for a place in the NBA Finals.
The Warriors are the prohibitive favorites to advance, and with the likes of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, it’s hard to bet against them.
However, the Warriors’ undersized big man, Kevon Looney, has been an underrated and extremely important part of their rotation this season. But did you know Kevon Looney is the cousin of a former Warrior?
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Kevon Looney and former Warrior Nick Young are cousins
That’s right, ‘Swaggy P’ himself Nick Young is first cousins with Kevon Looney. Young is Looney’s mom’s sister’s son, and the two even played together on the Warriors in 2017-2018.
Looney spoke with reporters about the relation back in 2017. “That’s my first cousin”, he said. One of the reporters responded saying, “I didn’t know that”, to which Looney replied: “He grew up in California so I didn’t get to meet him a lot” but that “it was going to be a lot of fun” playing with him.
In a behind-the-scenes video of Nick Young’s first day as a member of the Dubs in 2017, Swaggy also spoke about being related to Looney.
At 0:29 in the video below, Young called Kevon his “lil cousin” and joked that he wanted to get a ring as Kevon’s mom was talking trash after he had just won an NBA championship:
Nick also revealed that they were cousins back in 2015:
Interestingly, Nick Young and rapper Kendrick Lamar are also first cousins (on Nick’s father’s side), so the family is clearly a very talented one!
Looney has excelled in his role this season
Looney played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins and was selected by the Warriors in the 2015 NBA draft with the 30th overall pick.
However, the big man struggled with injuries early on in his career, having surgery on both of his hips as a rookie. In fact, during his first six years as a professional he averaged fewer than 60 games per season.
Kevon would win two rings with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and he has continued to excel in his role this season. Per NBA.com, he became one of only five NBA players to appear in all 82 regular-season games this year, and has played in all 12 of the Warriors’ postseason games too.
The undersized 6ft 9in center is a reliable defender, rebounder and screen setter, and is a seriously underrated weapon in the Warriors’ ultimate small-ball lineup.
In the Warriors’ second round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Looney had four points and a playoff-career high 22 rebounds in a pivotal Game 6 win. Afterwards, Klay Thompson gave him the nickname ‘Kevon Looajuwon’, after legendary Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon.
In Game 1 vs the Mavs, Looney was once again the ultimate role player. He went a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and added four assists and five rebounds.
The Mavericks had no answer for him and if Golden State are to reach yet another Finals, Looney will no doubt be a key cog in the Warriors’ winning machine.
