The Lakers have reached an agreement to sign guard Quinn Cook to a two-year, $6MM contract, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Cook became an unrestricted free agent earlier this week when the Warriors withdrew his qualifying offer.
Cook, 26, was a solid contributor off the bench for the Warriors in 2018/19, averaging 6.9 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG with a .465/.405/.769 shooting line in 74 games (14.3 MPG).
However, the Dubs had little flexibility to bring back all their free agents and rotation players as a result of the D’Angelo Russell sign-and-trade deal that will hard-cap team salary at $138.9MM. Cook was one of the odd men out in Golden State, along with Andre Iguodala, Jordan Bell, and likely DeMarcus Cousins and Shaun Livingston too.
Since missing out on Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers have committed a significant chunk of their $32MM in cap room to deals for Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The team also agreed to terms with JaVale McGee and appears likely to slot him into its room exception, so Cook will probably be signed using cap space as well.
Cook is the first point guard the Lakers have added this offseason to a roster that will be led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Kuzma. The club also reached minimum-salary deals with swingman Troy Daniels and forward Jared Dudley.
Cook is close with James and is also friends with Davis, having played with him briefly in New Orleans in 2017, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I saw this one coming. Perfect fit.
Why a fit?
Cook can’t play defense. lakers lack any defensive players. It will be out score your opponent or lose.
AD and Mcgee dont play defense? LOL
McGee plays defense. Can I stop laughing now?
arc,
Lousy finals too had lots of good 3pt looks couldn’t sink em. Hits a few GSW likey does better.
He’s there starter?
They aren’t done.
No no, he’s bench scoring, plain and simple. Green and Rondo will start.
Key/motive to this move is stated above “…Cook is close with James and also is friends with Davis” – whatever the big dogs want.
Jeanie Bust! Backup plan! Jerry west strikes again! Damn.
After these moves, are the Lakers even a playoff team? I would think so, but I could easily envision a scenario with 8 Western teams better than them next year.
GS, Houston, LAC, Portland, Utah, Denver are all easy choices as better. Sacramento could be in there. And I never count out San Antonio. For that matter, OKC still has Westbrook and they were a top 4 West seed the year before they got George. Plus if things work out, Dallas and Minnesota could gel as well.
The Lakers could easily be on the outside looking in next year.
Good lord the disrespect to ad and lebron is hilarious.
So which team do you think it would be better for me to disrespect?
Vegas has lakers second so pick between the other 28
Vegas had the Lakers #2 in the West last season as well. I’m going to stick with my thoughts. Thanks though.
A few days ago I said that Lakers first goal should be making the offseason since it’s been awhile since they last did it. Some people wanted to kill me.
Lakers ? How about the Warriors. Seriously, they could be fighting for their playoff lives. Little Curry doesn’t have big brother Klay to check the tough cover this year. Plus they’ll have like six rookies on the team. Could be rough. 45 wins?
You’re bonkers. This Laker team was contending before LBJ got hurt. You sub Ingram and Ball for AD, Green and others with a healthy LBJ and you have at longest a top 4 team in the West.
Have you seen Cook play? He has no defense is why he was a bench player. Lakers have all offense and no defense. Clippers have both so does GSW. Utah is more balance with offense this year. Lakers will not be in teh top 4 in the West. So who is playing defense for the Lakers to stop the west stacked teams?
So.. you are yin’s if he played better defense he would have started on Warriors team with Curry and Thompson? Excellent point, man.
Saying too*
I didn’t say that but of course you can pretend he is a great player. He does one thing and that is score. His defense has always been his weakness. If he was so good why didn’t all the other teams in the NBA go after him? They didn’t because he is a bench player. He will end up being a bench player for Lakers when it is all said and done.
AD is the best 2 way player in the league, so that is for one!
He was the best 2 way player in the league last year and led his team to 33 wins. Lebron is 36 years old and has 16 years of NBA games nearly 100 per year if you include the playoffs on his legs. Kobe started going downhill quickly after his mid 30s injury. I’m not saying LBJ is done, but he is not going to be the dominant force he has been. Father Time is still undefeated.
Aside from Davis, the Lakers are a very old team. Especially for a team that hasn’t been winning recently. If they don’t put it together quickly, the Lakers of the 2020s could look a lot like the Nets of the 2010s.
With your analytical skills, I’ll just take bonkers as a compliment. Thanks much.
KCP should’ve got the 2 year/$6m and Quinn Cook should’ve got the 2 year/$16m that KCP got. I don’t understand why they keep overpaying KCP, other than that he’a a Rich Paul client.