LeBron James apparently wanted Quinn Cook to land with the Lakers.
Cook, who inked a two-year, $6 million contract with Los Angeles earlier this month, told Silver Screen and Roll that James lobbied Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka to sign him.
Cook, 26, said he became close with James while he was in training camp with the Cavaliers in 2015.
“Any time over my career, he would make sure I was good, talking to me and giving me advice,” Cook said, via the Mercury News. “To have a guy like that in your corner who I can reach out to any time and gives me advice, it helps me at every stage of my career. It’s something I’ve never taken for granted. I’m looking forward to reuniting with him again.”
Cook was also teammates with Anthony Davis, who Los Angeles acquired in a blockbuster trade this summer, in New Orleans for a short period of time.
“We definitely will be able to compete for a championship,” Cook said about joining the Lakers. “That was the biggest thing. Just to keep learning and be around good players every day and keep getting better as a player. I’m just excited for the opportunity.”
Cook spent the last two seasons with the Warriors and averaged 6.9 points in 14.3 minutes per game in 2018-19. He was originally a restricted free agent, but Golden State rescinded his qualifying offer in order to create cap space to acquire D'Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade with the Nets.
“I had some teams reach out, then the Lakers thing came about, and it was just perfect,” Cook told Silver Screen and Roll. “Our talks were great, and everything went how it was supposed to, and we got it done.”
The Lakers had the ability to sign a third max player this summer, but missed out on Kawhi Leonard, who signed with the Clippers. They then went on to sign Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, Quinn Cook, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso and Avery Bradley.
Los Angeles has also reportedly attended the workouts of veterans Lance Stephenson, Marreese Speights, Amar'e Stoudemire and Monta Ellis.
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