The Golden State Warriors finally lost a game on Saturday night to bring their record to a still insane 24-1. A lot of people have been talking about how the Warriors have been extremely healthy all season and how that is a huge factor in the streak and that is hard to argue but Harrison Barnes has been out for a while now and they have not had their first round pick Kevon Looney available to them all season so they aren't fully healthy. Looney was presumed to be out for the season but now there might be a chance for him to play this year, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
Looney's injury isn't quite as detrimental to the Warriors as Barnes' is because Barnes is a starter and Looney would likely have trouble finding minutes but not being able to practice has hindered his development a little bit. Looney underwent hip surgery back in August and was given a timetable of 4-6 months for a return but since the Warriors are so deep they just figured they would keep him out all season but Looney is progressing and hopes to be back at some point this year.
There is still no guarantee that Looney will be cleared to play at any point this year but he is making progress as he has been doing some non-contact drills recently. Looney was the Warriors first round pick (30th overall) in the 2015 NBA Draft after playing just one season at UCLA. The 6 foot-9 forward was a highly touted prospect out of high school and many considered him a lottery type of talent but he fell all the way to the Warriors and they drafted a player with some significant upside.
The way the Warriors roster is currently constructed it is hard to imagine Looney finding minutes if he is cleared but being able to practice against this tremendous team would be invaluable for the young man. One place where Looney could possibly sneak in some minutes would be at the backup power forward position as Marreese Speights has been getting some time but not playing very well and Luke Walton has been reluctant to play Jason Thompson so it is possible that the rookie earns minutes but even if he didn't, being cleared definitely would not hurt.
