UCLA Alum Kevon Looney Wins NBA Championship With Golden State Warriors
A former Bruin shined on the brightest stage in basketball once again and wound up claiming the 2022 NBA Championship in the process.
UCLA men’s basketball alumnus Kevon Looney collected his third championship ring on Thursday night as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 103-90 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, winning the series 4-2. Looney did not score a point in the title-clinching contest, but he did pull down seven rebounds – six of which were offensive, which led the game for both teams.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads all UCLA alumni with six NBA championships, while Jamaal Wilkes has four. Looney has now tied Willie Naulls for third-most rings by a former Bruin with three, and he is the first UCLA alum to hit that mark since Wilkes in 1982.
Looney became a force throughout the playoffs and was an influential member of Golden State’s lineup through the Finals as well. His stats against the Celtics were a few steps below his sporadic All-Star-level production in the Western Conference Finals and Semifinals, but Looney still helped the Warriors collect constant second-chance opportunities to keep their offense buzzing.
The former first-round draft pick averaged 5.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.8 blocks per game across the six-game series. Looney did move to the bench later in the series, with coach Steve Kerr instead electing to bring him off the bench behind Otto Porter, but he was a starter in 13 of his 21 playoff appearances.
FiveThirtyEight published an article Monday titled “The Warriors Needed Looney More Than They Knew,” detailing how his impact on the court guided the Warriors to their fourth NBA Championship in six years. Looney had several performances with double-digit points, double-digit rebounds or both, and his +48 plus/minus in the Finals was the best by any player in the series.
Looney has been a plus/minus standout since his college days, as he led UCLA in net rating and box plus/minus in 2014-2015. The 6-foot-9 big man also led the Bruins in PER and win shares while averaging 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
After making the All-Pac-12 Second Team and All-Pac-12 Freshman Team en route to a Sweet 16 appearance, Looney left for the pros at the end of his freshman year. The Warriors selected him with the No. 30 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, and his role has been steadily growing ever since.
Looney is in line to hit unrestricted free agency on July 1, as the three-year extension he signed in 2019 has expired. Golden State’s president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers is the one who drafted Looney seven years ago, and he is also a UCLA men’s basketball alumnus.
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