The Warriors announced today that first round pick Kevon Looney “underwent a successful right hip arthroscopy this morning to repair a torn labrum” in Vail, Colorado. According to the team, the No. 30 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft will be out four-to-six months.
From the team’s announcement:
“Kevon has his entire NBA career ahead of him and we felt that, in consultation with our medical staff, Kevon and his representatives, it was best to address the issue now,” said Warriors General Manager Bob Myers. “He will have our complete support throughout the rehabilitation process and we are confident he will make a full recovery.”
As @SpearsNBAYahoo notes, K.Looney out 4-6 months with torn labrum (hip), Some players who have recovered, W.Chandler, J.Hill , C.Butler
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 21, 2015
Hip issues could’ve played into why Looney — a 19-year-old out of UCLA who some said had the talent to be a lottery pick — fell to the end of the first round. However, Looney took part fully in Summer League, averaging 19.7 minutes, 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He appeared to get better as the “season” went along, too.
If Looney misses six months, that would put him out until late-February. That would seem to coincide with ESPN’s Chad Ford’s mock draft on June 25, which stated: “While his hip injury is fixable, he probably misses the season.” That led Looney’s agent to go on the offensive.
That news was a major surprise to Looney’s camp. According to his agent Todd Ramasar, who reached out to CBSSports.com on Thursday afternoon, Looney has “finished every single workout” and just recently had his last ones on Monday and Tuesday. Also, Looney met with a hip specialist earlier in the draft process that cleared Looney moving forward.
Either way, it makes sense for the Warriors to get the surgery done now. Looney was probably Santa Cruz-bound, since he was going to have a difficult time breaking into a power forward rotation that should include Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Mo Speights, Jason Thompson and James Michael McAdoo. The only questions are (1) why he played in Summer League if the hip injury was a known issue, and (2) whether he aggravated the injury in Las Vegas or sometime since.
