Two rings in three years. Zero guaranteed deals after.

Not many get the good fortune of playing with two of the greatest players of all time. Quinn Cook is among the select few who played with Steph Curry at his peak with the Warriors, and then with a dominant LeBron James at the Lakers. Cook won titles with both of them. The 2018 Championship with the Warriors and the 2020 Championship with the Lakers. Yet he now finds himself outside the NBA and annoyed with his former agent.

After being waived by the Lakers in 2021, Cook received little to no interest across the league. The change was sudden. Even though he barely played in 2020-21, Cook’s resume still carried weight. But he received none apart from the brief seven-game stint with the Cavaliers. Cook took to Threads on May 14 to direct his frustration at his agent at the time, who failed to get any deals for him. 

“I was just here thinking…I went to three straight NBA finals..was the leading scorer off the bench my two years in Golden State and really contributed..barely played w the Lakers..but won 2 rings in 3 years..I never was on a guaranteed contract after that lol…..my agent stunk lmaoooo.”

Quinn Cook was represented by Andrews Trites at TRG before moving to Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports & Entertainment in 2020. And that seems to be the pivotal point for Cook, as the next year, he found himself without any deals. After that, he transitioned to Zac Benalloul post-NBA for international deals. But this is not the first time Cook has zeroed in on his agents, accusing them of misleading him. 

“My agent lied to me, telling me some stuff about a couple teams signing me,” Cook said back in 2024. “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 was a genuine threat at his NBA peak. He was the backup point guard for Steph Curry at the Warriors and started 18 games in 2017-8 while averaging 9.5 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 rebounds a game. Cook continued to make an impact from the bench before joining the Lakers.

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 LeBron James and Co. during the 2019-20 season. In his second season with the Lakers in 2020-21, Cook received virtually no playing time because the Lakers went with stars like Dennis Schröder and Alex Caruso. However, his tapering off could also be due to on-court reasons. 

Two on-court reasons that could have left Quinn Cook out of the NBA

The NBA is evolving faster than ever before. The three-point revolution in the 2010s enabled undersized shooters like Quinn Cook to make their mark. But the league moves on fast. The playstyle has slowly been phased out as the NBA no longer sees shorter 6’1 guards like Cook as assets off the bench.

“If you’re 6’0 or 6’1 and you’re not a bulldog like Davion Mitchell or Jrue Holiday on the defensive side or an offensive savant like Kyrie Irving, I just can’t see it,” Kevin Durant said a few months ago. 

According to Durant, modern offenses relentlessly hunt and target undersized guards on defense. The league demands size and versatility. Cook was already under the scanner for his defense during his best years with the Warriors and the Lakers. This seismic shift could have affected his NBA future. 

Another aspect is his playoff performances. Cook struggled in all three playoff runs he played. He averaged 4.1 points and 1.1 rebounds while shooting 28.3% from the three-point line. And since attention was the highest during the playoffs, Cook might have been seen as a worse player than he actually was because his bad performances stood out more than his good ones. 

Unfortunately, these are the stark realities for Cook. And it’s not only him. Numerous players get cast aside by the league after playing alongside players like LeBron James and Curry because they don’t fit their playstyle, not because of a lack of talent. In today’s world of analytics, talent takes a back seat to size, defense, and tactical fit.