During the 2018 NBA season, Quinn Cook made a significant contribution to the Golden State Warriors championship team. About two seasons later, he suddenly found himself a member of LeBron James’ championship Lakers team. Cook has never revealed why he suddenly left the Warriors for the Lakers in 2019, until now.
During an interview on the Jefe Island PodcastQuinn Cook has revealed the controversial reason he left the Warriors for the Lakers in the summer of 2019. In Cook’s words, the politics began in free agency when he was a restricted free agent for the Warriors and the team extended him a qualifying offer.
“Being a major contributor in the Finals was great, but politics and business happened during my free agency,” Cook said. “I was a restricted free agent, they made me a qualifying offer, but I had a good season, so my agent told me to wait and see if we get another offer… It was the third day of free agency… My agent called me three times, he was like, ‘Yo, everything’s kind of slow. I think we just gotta sign the offer and kill this shit. You’re gonna play, you know the ins and outs of the offense, Klay’s not gonna be there.’”
Instead of seeing what was happening on the market, Cook accepted the Warriors’ qualifying offer. To his surprise, Cook says the Warriors withdrew his qualifying offer just as he was in the process of signing it. Shortly after, the calls for free agency began.
“So he sent me the contract. I don’t think I’ve shared this story publicly yet,” Cook said. “They sent me the offer, I literally signed my qualifying offer to the Warriors, as I was doing that, they sent me a withdrawal. I have the screenshots and everything. It’s all signed… I literally filled it out and got the withdrawal from the Warriors… So my agent is on the phone, furious… Now I’ve gone from being restricted to being completely free. The first person that called me was Quin Snyder from the Jazz… I had about four teams call me. So Bron called me.”
Once the league learned Cook was an unrestricted free agent, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Rob Pelinka called him. At one point, Steve Kerr even called him, but Cook says he felt too slighted by the Warriors to back out.
“Four teams called me, Bron called me, Rob Pelinka called me, AD called me. They just got AD,” Cook said. “So I had a special feeling about Golden State. Steve Kerr called me… Steve said, ‘We’d love to have you back. We’ve got a 15th roster spot open, maybe you can come and fight for it.’ I said, ‘I just won a championship with you, I’ve been a big contributor the last few years, no, I’m out.’ I love Steve. He’s probably the best coach I’ve had since Coach K. I just felt like Golden State owed me a little more than that. I declined professionally.”
Quinn Cook isn’t the only one who experiences these kinds of situations in the NBA. Many players feel they are at a disadvantage and suddenly, without explanation, their careers will never recover. Some find their place in the league again, but unfortunately, few do.
