Warriors Steve Kerr Gives Big Update On Team's Starting Rotation
While they lost a handful of talent from their bench in free agency this offseason after winning their fourth title in the last eight seasons, the Golden State Warriors starting lineup will be unchanged heading into the 2022-23 season.
When speaking with The Athletic’s Anthony Slater recently, head coach Steve Kerr not only talked about assistant coach Mike Brown’s departure for the Sacramento Kings, but he touched on James Wiseman’s status heading into the 2022-23 season and what the team’s frontcourt will look like.
“Loon will come back as the starter,” Kerr told Slater. “He has earned that and then some. We’re all thrilled that he’s back. There was a real fear that we’d lose him. To get him back is massive for our team. It sets up well for Loon to continue what he did for us last year. In doing so, he’s really a good mentor for James.”
Retaining Kevon Looney this offseason was not an easy task for the Warriors even though both Looney and the team had interest in getting a deal done. Other organizations around the league showed interest in trying to sign Looney from under Golden State and while no deal was ever close, the Warriors still had to pay their big man for his contributions to their recent title.
Without Looney, the Warriors may not have made it all the way to the NBA Finals, as he really emerged as an important player during the second-half of the season and throughout the playoffs.
He recorded a career-high 22 rebounds in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals to close out the Memphis Grizzlies, he recorded 18 rebounds in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals to close out the Dallas Mavericks, he averaged 7.5 rebounds in the NBA Finals and perhaps Looney’s greatest achievement is that he played in all 82 regular season games and all 22 playoff games that Warriors had this past year.
Playing in a total of 104 games during the entire 2021-22 season, Looney definitely proved his worth to the Golden State Warriors and now, he is their starting center moving forward.
So what does Steve Kerr naming Kevon Looney the team’s starting center moving forward mean for soon-to-be third-year big man James Wiseman?
Drafted second overall in 2020 by the Warriors, Wiseman played in 39 games during his rookie season due to injuries and missed the entire 2021-22 season as he worked his way back from a meniscus tear in his right knee.
Looking confident and healthy last month at Summer League in Las Vegas, Wiseman seems to be on schedule in his recovery process and could very likely be available for the team to begin the 2022-23 season. However, the Warriors are comfortable taking their time with James Wiseman and Kerr talked about this with The Athletic.
“I think this will be a more natural progression for James, one that didn’t really happen his rookie year because of the situation,” Kerr went on to say. “We felt like we needed to get him as much experience as possible… So this seems much more natural, much more organic. Loon is the incumbent, the championship starting center who has seen everything. Then you have James who will learn from him and with him and will get his chances as we go. It’s a healthy growth situation for James.”
With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins rounding out the team’s starting-five, the Golden State Warriors will once again be a championship-caliber team heading into the 2022-23 season.
Adding Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green in free agency, as well as bringing back Kevon Looney and having James Wiseman returning from injury, the Warriors will be the team to beat in the Western Conference.
