Milwaukee’s best: Midwest connection bonds Golden State’s Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney
Three years and about 10 miles separated the Warriors teammates in high school playing in Milwaukee.
MILWAUKEE — Growing up here, Jordan Poole didn’t have any local legends to fashion his game after. Across town at another high school, though, there was a peer, a few years ahead of him, that they called, “Baby KD:” Kevon Looney.
Almost a decade later, Poole still finds it hard to believe that the winding paths of two of Milwaukee’s best converged in San Francisco, after the Golden State Warriors drafted Poole 28th overall three years ago. Between G League stints and pandemic restrictions, the Warriors’ game Thursday night against the Bucks served as Poole’s first proper homecoming.
“I mention it to him at least once a week,” Poole said, sitting on the baseline of Fiserv Forum, the Bucks’ new venue that wasn’t open the last time either lived in the city. “For us to be on the same team, it’s pretty awesome. … Making it to the league was always my dream. … Getting to play in front of my home fans, home city, it’ll be pretty awesome.”
Approximately 10 miles separate Poole’s Rufus King High, where he spent his first three years before transferring to an Indiana private school, and Looney’s alma mater, Alexander Hamilton, where he became the most sought after recruit in the nation as a high school senior.
Looney plays the role of lumbering big man now, as a 26 year old. But in high school, Looney was a ball handler, a playmaker and a big man wrapped into one.
Poole was a freshman when Looney was a senior.
Looney was southside. Poole was northside.
Only eight other active NBA players hail from Wisconsin. From Milwaukee proper, Miami Heat sixth man extraordinaire Tyler Herro is the other notable product.
“Loon was somebody that I looked up to a lot,” Poole said. “I tell people all the time, like, him making it to the league was so pivotal not only for myself but for so many people who came after me. … Loon was the person who really set it off for our era.”
Looney was a third-year veteran and NBA champion by the time the Warriors drafted Poole in 2018.
While Looney’s journey west started in college, when he committed to UCLA, Poole went from Wisconsin (for high school) to Indiana (for prep school) to Michigan (for college). When Golden State came calling, Poole was looking for any connection to home.
He found that — and a role model — in Looney.
“Everything Loon does, I do. He showed me how to be a really good professional, how to come in early, night in, night out and just be prepared,” Poole said. “I’m just following in his path if I’m being completely honest.”
More Milwaukee ties
- As Poole answered questions about his hometown, he interrupted himself to beckon Juan Toscano-Anderson over to his seat on the baseline. “Ay, come say what you have to say to the 4-1-4 people, bro!”Toscano-Anderson is as Bay Area as they come, but when it came time for college, as a top-100 recruit nationally, he opted for Marquette, a small, private school on the west side of Milwaukee that is also a basketball power.
“Shout out to the 4-1-4, man, they showed me mad love,” Toscano-Anderson said. “4-1-4’s finest, right here.”