In 2018, Quinn Cook was Steph Curry’s official backup point guard on a championship-winning Golden State Warriors team. He had started in 18 games for the team that season and was a member of the roster from 2017-2019. The next season in 2019-2020, he won a championship with the Lakers, and two seasons later he was out of the league.
It was a moment that Quinn Cook still fully doesn’t quite understand. In his eyes, he was a great teammate and put in the work, but his NBA career only lasted seven seasons.
During a recent interview on Dwight Howard’s Above The Rim with DH 12 podcast, Quinn revealed his journey on the Warriors and Lakers, and also his journey out of the league.
“One thing about me is I was always a great teammate, genuine, never really forced nothing off the court. I worked,” Cook said. “I signed with Golden State, and I was a backup that year, obviously Steph went out – had a nice 30-game run. Won a chip. We get Boogie the next year, I was a backup that year, he tears his quad first round after coming off of Achilles. K {Kevin Durant] get hurt the next series, Klay gets hurt, we were a play away from going to Game 7… I contributed 2018-2019, I was the backup point guard for Golden State, a dynasty.”
After Quinn Cook’s journey on the Warriors, he found himself playing off the bench for a championship-winning Los Angeles Lakers team. He averaged 5.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists on 43/37/79 shooting from the field; he played in 44 games for the team. In his second season with the Lakers in 2020-21, Cook received virtually no playing time.
“Go to LA, don’t play,” Cook said “I’m sitting behind LeBron, I’m sitting behind Rondo. I play in three straight Finals. I’ve never been on a guaranteed contract since, which is bullsh*t. But, at the end of the day, I had to go through those first non-guaranteed deals, or living out of my suit case for two years to get ready for that. At that point, I was just like, forget the NBA, I’m gonna go where I get the respect. Then, I went overseas and it’s been great ever since.”
As soon as Quinn Cook finished the 2020-21 NBA season, he believes he stopped getting respect from the league and that’s why he decided to play overseas. Cook tried to make a comeback shortly thereafter but mentioned that his agent lied to him about NBA teams wanting him.
“My agent lied to me, telling me some stuff about a couple teams signing me,” Cook said. “Once I heard that, I was trying to get on the first plane from China. Came back home, I went to the G League, and I never got called up. Then I went overseas again… I took a year off, just trying to find myself again… I just turned 30, I still want to hoop.”
Cook’s story is one that doesn’t fully add up, but that’s the story of many NBA players in the league. Some of them find themselves out of a roster spot, and just never find a way back. Fortunately, there is some solace in playing overseas and still getting to play the game of basketball that they love.
