Quinn Cook: Warriors working on 2-year contract with fill-in guard.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Warriors have been in discussions with point guard Quinn Cook about a multiyear deal that would turn his twoway contract into a standard NBA deal, a team source has confirmed to The Chronicle.
ESPN was first to report the news.
A two-year guaranteed contract can’t be finalized until the regular season ends Tuesday. Because of the nature of his two-way contract, Cook would need his deal converted to a standard contract to be on the postseason roster.
With Stephen Curry expected to miss the first round of the playoffs with a sprained left MCL, Golden State could use insurance at point guard. The only point guard available other than Cook, who has started in Curry’s absence, is 32-year-old Shaun Livingston.
There is probably not a better choice than a proven shooter who has spent all season in the team’s system. In his past 11 games, Cook has averaged 18 points, 4.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds. He is shooting 49.3 percent from the field this season, 42.9 percent from three-point range and 90.5 percent from the foul line.
It is quite the breakthrough for a player who has had a tough time finding professional stability since he went undrafted out of Duke in 2015. In less than three years, Cook has been waived four times and signed three 10-day contracts.
“Quinn is a guy Steve (Kerr) has leaned on and the players have come to trust,” general manager Bob Myers told 95.7 on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s conversations we’ve had. We’ll have to come to some type of decision prior to the last game of the season.”
To keep Cook for the postseason, the Warriors’ front office must waive one of its 15 players on a guaranteed contract. The team still has six days to make that decision, but forward Omri Casspi is the most likely candidate to get cut in favor of Cook.
Though he has thrived at times this season as a rimcutter, the 29-year-old, who is on a one-year, veteran-minimum deal, has been hampered by inconsistency and struggled to carve out a regular place in the rotation. Casspi is set to miss his 10th game in a row Thursday with a sprained right ankle.