Free agents on Chicago Bulls Black Friday shopping list: Quinn Cook
Another player that is surprisingly still available in free agency, without really getting a legitimate shot to make an NBA roster since Training Camp and the preseason, is the former Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors sharpshooting combo guard Quinn Cook. The undersized but quick 6-foot-1 and 180-pound 28-year-old guard split time between the Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers in 23 games this past regular season.
The one chance that Cook did get to a certain extend entering Training Camp was on a non-guaranteed contract that he signed with the Trail Blazers back in September. But Cook didn’t even last with the Blazers through the middle of October, as they looked to essentially already have their backcourt unit figured out heading into the regular season.
There is still a lot of value that Cook can bring to the table for any team that needs a second or third unit scoring guard that is one of the more efficient reserve shooters at his position. Cook is around a 46 percent shooter from the field for his career, 41 percent from beyond the arc, and 80 percent from the free-throw line. He’s also come extraordinarily close to joining the 50/40/90 club in three of his five seasons in the NBA thus far.
Cook is a good secondary initiator and scorer that could work well with someone like fellow former Lakers point guard Alex Caruso and/or point guard Lonzo Ball off the bench. In fact, many of the best three and four-man combinations that Cook played with in his last full season with the Lakers (during the 2019-20 campaign) also featured Caruso.
While Cook will never be someone who can get to the free-throw line with ease and beat any opposing defender off-the-dribble, he is an efficient shooter from almost anywhere on the floor and a talented scorer. In fact, he averaged around 18 points per 36 minutes in his last two seasons with the Lakers.