Warriors pick up Kevon Looney third-year option

The Warriors locked up big man Kevon Looney for at least one more season, as they exercised the sophomore’s third-year contract option Sunday.

The team had until October 31 to decide on whether or not to pick up the rookie scale option.

Looney had trouble staying healthy his rookie year, only appearing in five games, though he showed the potential that had him pegged at one point as a lottery pick at in limited D-League action.

He averaged 9.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in 12 games for the Santa Cruz Warriors. Looney seemed to finally be finding his groove and was able to stay on the court playing 12 minutes a game.

Even with Looney’s injury history, it was almost a forgone conclusion the Warriors would pick up his option.

With their cap situation at full capacity for the foreseeable future the only way for the Warriors to fill out the end of their bench is with cheap rookie deals or veteran minimum contracts.

Plus it is almost unheard of to decline a first round picks option, although the Warriors themselves did it just two years ago when they declined Nemanja Nedovic’s third-year option.