The Golden State Warriors have a term for when former Milwaukee Hamilton High School star Kevon Looney breaks away from his role as a glue guy for the defending NBA champions .
"In the locker room, we call it 'Milwaukee Loon' when he gets loose every once in a while," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. "He'll have a really fun play where he'll show his ball-handling skills and spin-dribble around somebody. Everybody will be yelling 'Milwaukee Loon!' "
If anybody needs to be reminded about "Milwaukee Loon," there are many mixtapes on YouTube from when Looney was one of the top high school recruits in the 2014 class . In gyms across the city, Looney drew comparisons to Kevin Durant as a 6-foot-9 ball-handler who could bomb three-pointers and distribute pinpoint passes.
It was a totally different player than Looney these days in the NBA, where he does the dirty work alongside all-time legends like Stephen Curry , Klay Thompson and Draymond Green . But he's been remarkably successful, winning three championships and earning well over $25 million in his eight seasons. He even got the chance to play with Durant, the player he was compared to most when he was younger.
"His transformation from that type of player to workhorse center is a testament to his intelligence and his awareness," Kerr said. "As he got to the NBA, he was injured his first couple years and really had to find his way. And he realized his path was screener and rebounder and one-on-one defender.
"He's actually very capable of handling the ball. He's a better shooter than people give him credit for or I even think he gives himself credit for. Everybody has so much respect for Loon because of how professional he is and just his approach every single day."
The Warriors are loaded with Wisconsin connections , including guard Jordan Poole , who looked up to Looney as a young guard at Milwaukee King High School.
"We talk about a lot," Looney said. "Just our experiences, a lot of the basketball leagues we played in, a lot of different people we grew up watching and different mentors that we had in common.
"Just our whole basketball experience coming up in Milwaukee playing basketball was so similar, both playing in the City Conference for a while and playing in a lot of different leagues.
"I'm a little older but we played against a lot of the same people, so we reminisce and talk about those times, (like) a lot my teammates, my man Trae Jefferson, who was a popular player that I played with. We had a coach named Bryan Johnikan that I played for that kind of worked him out a couple times. Different people like that. We'll talk about King and Coach (Jim) Gosz and (Tom) Diener at Milwaukee Hamilton."
When Looney was younger, every high school coach in the city salivated at the thought of coaching him. Looney's family steered him toward playing for Diener.
"I always felt really it was an honor," Diener said. "Because I knew back in eighth grade, you could tell he was really special. You could just tell he was going to be a great player."
The Hamilton coach unleashed the Looney who gained a cult following on those mixtapes.
"We had him do everything," Diener said. "He was really an unselfish player. There'd be games where I'd say 'Listen, Kevon is going to take the first five shots. Because if I didn't define his role, he'd be so unselfish.
"So we might start a game like that and, if he'd take the first five shots it's not like he got the ball and shot it. We'd have to pass it around two or three times before he felt like he had a shot that he liked. And if we did it that way, he'd typically start out 5 for 5 or 4 for 5. He shot such a high percentage. He was such a smart player and an unselfish player."
College coaching legends like Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Bo Ryan were frequent visitors to Looney's City Conference games. But he ended up at UCLA for one season , averaging 11.6 points and led the team with 9.2 rebounds, and was drafted 30thoverall by the Warriors in 2015.
Looney was plagued by hip issues his first few seasons in the league, but he transitioned to center from power forward and became a rotation player in the 2017-18 season. He's become a key piece of the Warriors' success and is averaging a career-high 7.6 rebounds per game this season.
"He was really, really fortunate to get drafted by Golden State because they've really been patient with him," Diener said. "They understood what he brought to the team."
Looney is such a beloved teammate that Kerr and several Warriors players showed up at Hamilton when Looney had his jersey retired in 2018 .
As he found his footing in the NBA, including signing a three-year, $25.5 million deal last summer, Looney has also given back to his hometown. Looney helps support the Running Rebels Community Organization , which helped nurture his talent as a kid, and has shown up for rallies in the city like Pause 4 Peace .
"When he was a ninth and 10th grader at Hamilton, he was becoming a superstar even at the high school level," Diener said. "But you would never know it. He treated everybody the same way. He was nice to everybody.
"If you ask people from Hamilton High School, everybody in that school respected and liked him. Because of the way he conducted himself and the way his parents taught him. His parents were really solid. He's going to really continue to be a tremendous contributor to society."
Looney also served as inspiration for the Milwaukee-area players like Poole, Jalen Johnson , Tyler Herro , Michael Foster and Alondes Williams who are establishing their own pro careers.
"As I've been in the league a little longer than some of these guys, I talk to some of these guys, and they tell me about how they watched me growing up," Looney said. "Like JP and stuff. It kind of did make me feel like I set the tone and kind of broke the door down, I don't know if that's the right word to say, but the first in this new younger class to make it in the league and have some success.
"Being on the Warriors, one of the most recognizable teams, didn't do any harm as well."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's Kevon Looney is glue guy for Golden State Warriors dynasty
