Honorary Warrior For Life? Vote on Kevon Looney

our way of paying tribute

The index article for Honorary Warriors For Life lists everyone already polled.

Introducing Honorary Warriors For Life

The concept is simple. You get to vote on the question “Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life?”

What does that phrase mean? I once tried to define it, and people found it more fun to bring in their own definitions, so it is now back to being kept vague, like “Most Valuable Player” or “Greatest Of All Time” or “sandwich”.

“Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life?”

I now only poll players who have played more than 1 year with GSW. This isn’t a rule I wanted, but the people have spoken and I made the unwritten rule a formal rule. The link at the top links to an index for all previous player votes.

And now for our nominee…

Kevon Looney

On the bittersweet day that his departure was announced, I wrote:

Kevon was a rock of the team. But I’m also glad he’s getting $16 million which is way more than GSW would have paid him and he’ll be reunited with his pal Jordan Poole and old coach Willie Green.

Things have collapsed in NOP, but Dub Nation’s affection for Kevon lives on. In addition to being an upright citizen and as Steve Kerr called him the moral center of the team, he was also an amazing offensive rebounder. I dare say that without his work against the Memphis Grizzlies in 2022, the Warriors do not win the playoff series.

Guifus wrote:

I guess this day was inevitable, but I kept hoping LoonDawg would be a Warrior his entire career, in addition to being a Warrior for Life. We can’t assume to know everything about each player, but I think there’s enough evidence and testimony about Looney’s character to believe he’s the real deal. He’s been my favorite guy on the team for quite some time.

I stumbled upon this video years ago and absolutely adored Looney in it. He was in Milwaukee to do his annual camp for kids and joined a local morning show and was paired up with two hosts that obviously knew nothing about hoops and asked pretty bubble-headed questions. Instead of acting cool or rolling his eyes, he handles the whole things with grace, humility and the utter lack of pretense that we’d see over and over from him during his time here.

This makes me way more melancholy than Klay, Iggy or any Warrior leaving.

More comments from Dub Nation HQ

• Goldarn Staid Worrier (21 ♡):

  Goodbye Kevon! A great Warrior!!

• Steel Beams (19 ♡):

  God I love Looney. I hope he does well in Nola. LoonDawg is a Dub for life, and I will throw hands over that claim.

• dubbletrubble (15 ♡):

  I appreciate the information [on Loon’s departure], but I will not be liking your post.

• Sleepy Freud (14 ♡):

  LoonDawg had this run of rebounds v SAC and LAL in the ‘23 playoffs.

  20

  14

  22

  13

  21

  23

  😢

• TDR (12 ♡):

  Ok devastated for a moment. Looooooooooooon ☹️

• E2148 (11 ♡):

  Gutted. I’m a UCLA fan too so losing Loon hurts extra.

  He was supposed to be a point forward with 3 pt range in college but his health issues were so bad he wasn’t even a guarantee to stick around in the league past his first contract.

  To see him not only get healthy and reinvent himself as an undersized, tenacious rebounder, but become an “adult in the room” and a major contributor to the 22 championship has got to be one of my favorite things I’ve watched as a Dubs fan in the last 17 years (next to my former Davidson classmate becoming a top 10 all time player, of course ☺️).

  I think it goes without saying that Kevon is and forever will be a Warrior for Life!

• Ty (11 ♡):

  Oh god no, not Looney…it was always a possibility but it still hurts…

  “If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them.” —JAMES O’BARR

• Abaddon (10 ♡):

  I croon

  A mournful tune

  We’re losing Loon

Your Vote

You can vote by poll and/or by comment (which counts as ten poll votes) with an explanation and a single #YES or #NO. A straight 75% vote will qualify the player for HWFL status.

I know you may feel creative and want to do other funny hashtags, but this will only cause me more work and annoyance, so please redirect your creativity.

Bonus Poll

Dub Nation, imagine you see Kevon Looney in a game with no practical implications for the Warriors. (So not against GSW, ignore draft picks, playoff seeding, etc.) Do you want them to do well or poorly?