The Golden State Warriors pulled off a comeback victory in Game 2 of the 2019 NBA Finals and Steve Kerr’s team famously overcame myriad injury concerns in order to do it. Following the win, most of the injury-related attention was paid to the status of Klay Thompson, after the All-Star shooting guard exited with a left hamstring injury. There was a second example of a key piece exiting early, however, and the diagnosis reportedly isn’t ideal for big man Kevon Looney.
After the Warriors originally announced a “left chest contusion” for the 23-year-old center, rumblings began that Looney’s injury was related to his collarbone. On Monday evening, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word that Looney will be out “indefinitely” after an MRI revealed a fracture.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1135720615250468864
The Warriors later confirmed the report from Woj, while also providing an update on Klay Thompson’s hamstring strain.
Klay Thompson & Kevon Looney injury update: pic.twitter.com/TTwO4rWEVU
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) June 4, 2019
Though Looney hasn’t functioned as a starter for the Warriors during their playoff run, the former UCLA big man has been a key cog in all 18 games. In fact, many have pointed out that Golden State should deploy Looney in a larger role and, even with DeMarcus Cousins back in the fold, the Warriors don’t have a perfect replacement for the two-way work of Looney.
As noted here, this isn’t necessarily definitive but, for now, it appears as if the Warriors will be operating without Looney for a while. That means a potential uptick in playing time for the likes of Jordan Bell, Jonas Jerebko, Andrew Bogut and/or Damian Jones, with plenty of attention still to be paid to the status of the team’s stars in Thompson and Kevin Durant.
