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Jordan Poole’s ‘so lit’ message after Pelicans sign Kevon Looney

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Jedd Pagaduan | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 12:03 AM ET

After a putrid 2024-25 campaign in which they won just 21 games, the New Orleans Pelicans are looking to return to playoff contention for the upcoming season. To further their cause, they signed three-time champion Kevon Looney to a two-year, $16 million deal in the first day of free agency, bolstering their frontcourt and giving it the rebounding muscle that they sorely needed.

The signing of Looney allows the Pelicans to bring along their young big men, Yves Missi and Derik Queen, more slowly. And at such a low cost, this shouldn’t prohibit New Orleans from making other moves to improve the roster. This signing, while crowding their frontcourt even further, is also going to bring some much-needed leadership and level-headedness in the team’s locker room.

All in all, the Pelicans’ decision to sign Looney should help their cause for the 2025-26 season. And this also reunites Looney with a former teammate of his on the Golden State Warriors in Jordan Poole — someone he won a championship with back in 2022. Poole is definitely ecstatic that he’ll be teaming up with a familiar, beloved face.

“Omg!!! It’s so lit,” Poole wrote as the caption on his Instagram story welcoming Looney to the Big Easy, via Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Jordan Poole is very happy to reunite with Kevon Looney pic.twitter.com/PojEdfnV3N

— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) July 1, 2025

Looney was a fixture for the Warriors for a decade, but he’s now embarking on a new chapter heading into the start of his 11th season in the NBA. Everyone on the Warriors organization raves about what a good influence Looney is and what a rock he is for the locker room, and he should be a positive influence on a young Pelicans team that lost some leadership after they traded away CJ McCollum (for Poole) earlier this offseason.

Pelicans reunite former Warriors champs in Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole

Golden State Warriors forward Kevon Looney (5) reacts after making a basket against the LA Clippers during the third quarter at Chase Center. Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

At the very least, Looney’s exit from the Warriors is graceful, unlike Poole’s. As one would recall, Poole was basically forced out of Golden State after they prioritized Draymond Green over him in the aftermath of the punch heard around the world back in 2022.

Nonetheless, both of them are now aiming to do their part in bringing the Pelicans back to the winning track. Poole and Looney project to be valuable bench pieces for a New Orleans squad that now has considerable depth across all positions.

Health permitting, the Pelicans look poised to at least compete for a play-in tournament spot in a stacked Western Conference.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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