Between 2018 and 2020, Quinn Cook was lucky. He played the Finals each time, twice with the Warriors then with the Lakers, and finished with two championship rings on his fingers. After only 165 regular season games, he was a two-time NBA champion and had played with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
The sequel will be less rosy. In 2020/21, he is injured and then cut by the Lakers. His rebound in Cleveland is not as positive as hoped and on March 26, 2021, against the Lakers, without knowing it, he was playing his last game in the NBA.
“My time with the Lakers was great, I won the title”he remembers for NBC Sports. “I was coming out of two seasons with the Warriors where I was part of the rotation. I learned from LeBron, but I didn’t really get a chance to play. I got injured, I did a short stint in Cleveland, but never been in good shape. »
Result: he cannot find a club and does not play a minute last season. Quinn Cook therefore makes a turn in the G-League, where he shines with Stockton, the team affiliated with the Kings. It is also the Californian franchise that will offer him a new chance this summer.
“Being part of an NBA group on the first night of the season would be one of the greatest moments of my life”
The former Golden State was particularly shown against the Suns, in preseason, with 10 points scored in just 9 minutes. He takes on a veteran role in Sacramento.
“It is my mission here. I am the player who won, who knew great locker rooms, franchises who had the culture of winning. We have eight or nine minutes of play and many would dream of this chance. So nine minutes or nine seconds, you have to give it your all. »
Quinn Cook has one goal in mind: to earn his place in the coming days in the workforce of Mike Brown, whom he knew at the Warriors, to fully validate his return to the NBA.
“Last year, when I was with the Stockton team, I thought that being part of an NBA group on the first night of the season would be one of the greatest moments of my life, after all. what I went through. They doubted me, but I never stopped believing in myself. I hope it will work out, but I’m already blessed to have had this opportunity. It’s incredible. »
