SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kevon Looney will long be remembered for doing it all for the Golden State Warriors over a memorable decade, content being a quiet leader who went about his business without fanfare, without the need for praise or accolades.
He put on the uniform night after night, crashed the boards as an elite rebounder, and contributed with heart and effort — playing nearly 300 games in a row during one remarkable stretch.
“So many memories that come through when I think about my time here, but I would just like to be remembered as being a tough guy, a guy that showed up every night, a guy that brought his hard hat every night, a guy that never complained about anything,” Looney said as he returned to face his former team for the first time at Chase Center since joining the New Orleans Pelicans during the offseason. “Whatever I was asked to do I went out there and tried to do it to the best of my ability is kind of how I want to be remembered.”
The Warriors played a tribute video to Looney on the big screen before tipoff featuring highlights and kind words from teammates, including Stephen Curry. Looney smiled and waved, clearly touched by the warm reception and ovation. There were also pins made featuring his likeness.
Looney finished with four points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal in 10 minutes of action during his team's 104-96 loss.
A member of three Warriors championship teams, Looney embraced any role for coach Steve Kerr — starting, coming off the bench, even playing minimal or no minutes at times if that was best for the team. His offensive rebounding regularly created extra offensive chances.
“Loon gave so much of that to us,” Kerr said. “It might have gone maybe less noticed maybe five, six years ago when he was doing all that than it would be now. We recognized it and we miss some of that now, for sure. Goes way beyond the court stuff, just his locker room presence, his maturity, the way he generated a professional atmosphere with the whole group, just a remarkable teammate.”
The veteran center signed a two-year, $16 million contract and is in his 11th NBA season after winning championships with Golden State, playing 289 straight games including playoffs for the fifth-longest such run in team history and 254 in the regular season — good for seventh-longest.
He is averaging 2.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in his first season for New Orleans.
Looney set out to play all 82 games in 2021-22 and did so — even when the medical staff suggested he might benefit from a breather — then accomplished the same thing again the next season while earning the nickname “Iron Man Loon ” for his dependability.
Kerr hated to end Looney's streak on March 7, 2024, but at the time needed to give more minutes to then-rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis.
“He took great pride in being there every night, which fit, it was a great metaphor for kind of who he is as a human being, he's always there for you," Kerr said. “One of the hardest nights for me in my 12 years coaching was the night I broke the streak.”
There have been adjustments leaving the familiarity of the Bay Area and starting fresh across the country, but Looney is embracing becoming part of the community and noted, “Southern hospitality is a real thing.”
“It was no hard feelings. Ten years I have a lot of great memories, more great than bad,” Looney said of his time with the Warriors. “There were times I probably didn't deserve an opportunity and the coaching staff put me out there. It kind of all balances out and it's all love. Those guys are like my family. ... When I come back here all I can think about is all the winning we did. Even last year the year was up and down but we still made it pretty far and got to the second round.”
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New Orleans Pelicans forward Kevon Looney (55) battles under the basket between Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) and guard Dyson Daniels in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.
Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely supportive of Trump's decision to forcibly remove Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro from power, but many Democrats emerged with more questions as Trump maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges U.S. companies to reinvest in the country's underperforming oil industry.
A war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. military action in Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the Senate.
“We don't expect troops on the ground,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said afterward.
He said Venezuela's new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the U.S., which sparked Trump's initial campaign of deadly boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.
“This is not a regime change. This is demand for a change in behavior,” Johnson said. "We don't expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going.”
Johnson added, "We have a way of persuasion — because their oil exports as you know have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order,” he said.
But Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emerged saying, “There are still many more questions that need to be answered.”
“What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of America?” Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said afterward.
The briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders, knew about until after it was underway — a remarkable delay in informing Congress, which has ultimate say over matters of war.
Administration officials fielded a range of questions — from further involvement of U.S. troops on the ground to the role of the Venezuelan opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Trump administration as the country’s vice president, Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, swiftly became the country’s interim president.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking charges against Maduro, all joined the classified session. It was intended for the so-called “gang of eight” leaders, which includes Intelligence committee leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking lawmakers on the national security committees.
Asked afterward if he had any more clarity about who is actually running Venezuela, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said, “I wish I could tell you yes, but I can’t.”
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Republican chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and ranking Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois — said they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have oversight of the Justice Department under Bondi.
Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump’s action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland.
“The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars,” Schumer said.
Afterward, Schumer said the briefing, “while extensive and long, posed far more questions than it answered.”
Republicans hold mixed views reflective of the deepening schism within Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement as the president, who vowed to put America first, ventures toward overseas entanglements many lawmakers in both parties want to avoid — particularly after the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Next steps in the country, and calls for elections in Venezuela, are uncertain.
The Trump administration had been in talks with Rodríguez, who took the place of her ally Maduro and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump has been dismissive of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who last month won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her nation. Trump has said Machado lacks the “support” or “respect” to run the country.
But Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, said he plans to speak soon with Machado, and called her “very popular if you look at what happened in the last election.”
“She eventually, I think, will be the president of Venezuela," Scott said. "You know, this is going to be a process to get to a democracy. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of bad people still there, so it’s going to take time. They are going to have an election and I think she will get elected.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a leading critic of the Trump campaign of boat strikes against suspected drug smugglers, said there are probably a dozen leaders around the world who the U.S. could say are in violation of an international law or human rights law.
“And we have never gone in and plucked them out the country. So it sets a very bad precedent for doing this and it’s unconstitutional,” Paul told reporters. “There’s no way you can say bombing a capital and removing the president of a foreign country is not an initiation of war.”
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this story.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a military operation. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., answers questions from reporters following a closed-door briefing from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and others about the U.S. military operation in Venezuela ordered by President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, for a closed-door briefing with top lawmakers after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bring him to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
