How Surgeries Helped Kevon Looney Become An Essential Piece Of The Warriors' Core

Over the course of one week in mid-May, Warriors' center Kevon Looney set career highs in minutes, points, rebounds, and field goals made, while helping close out the Grizzlies in the second round and leading a frantic comeback against the Mavericks in the West Finals.

His revelatory contributions over the latter half of the playoffs continues a career year for the 2016 first round pick. 

After a tumultuous first five seasons, Looney is reveling in finally being healthy for Golden State, as he carries an SIC health score of 96 into the remainder of the NBA Finals.

Looney was one of five players, and only two centers, to appear in all 82 games this season, an accomplishment Steve Kerr called a “badge of honor.”

Before Looney had been in the NBA for a whole season, he underwent surgeries on each hip to repair a torn labrum, holding him to only five games in 2015-16. 

That was the first pair of a collection of significant injuries and surgeries, including: a fractured collarbone in the 2019 Finals, lingering neuropathy that caused pain in his extremities and multiple hamstring strains in 2018 and 2019, a core muscle surgery in 2019, and chronic stomach inflammation that required an aggressive shift in his diet and training.

His multiple surgeries have actually contributed to his career revitalization, according to our team of ProBasketballDocs. 

While we always think of going under the knife as a last-ditch effort, procedures can sometimes be good news as a source of relief or a preventative measure. 

In this case, getting fixed with hip scopes early and a core muscle surgery early in his career has helped his performance as he enters his late-20s. 

Looney said in September 2020 that he was scared because of his abdominal injury that prevented him from being able to move laterally or jump in the previous season, an issue that surgery repaired successfully. 

Of course, Looney was still responsible for finding solutions to other lingering problems, and he has held up his end of the bargain. 

Since the 2019 season Looney has been gluten-free and pescatarian, now takes an estimated 50 supplements, and, in the last year, has added Muy Thai and Joga to his routine to improve his hip mobility and prevent further soft-tissue injuries.

His impressive intervention has paid major dividends for Golden State, who has been without top pick James Wiseman for the entire season and is working with an otherwise undersized frontline.