Two-way player Quinn Cook continues to make a strong push for a standard NBA contract, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. With three All-Star teammates sidelined by injuries, the second-year point guard had 28 points in Saturday’s win over the Suns, following up a 25-point performance the night before.
Cook is nearing his 45-day NBA limit, but that won’t be an issue once the G League season ends next week. The Warriors will be able to keep him for the rest of the regular season, but they must convert his contract by April 10 to make him eligible for the playoffs. Cook has a vocal supporter in teammate Draymond Green, who wants to see him on the postseason roster.
“I’ve said all along, I sit here and I watch so many other teams play and I wonder: ‘How is Quinn Cook a two-way player?’” Green said. “Then you have guys in the league who can’t dribble with their left hand or can’t go left, can’t go right. Then you have a guy like that is a two-way player? I’m happy for him, happy he’s showing the world and pray he gets rewarded.”
Slater passes on a few more items about the defending champs:
- The top candidate to be waived to make room for Cook is veteran forward Omri Casspi, who got some good news after an MRI Saturday. The team announced that his ankle injury is a tweak rather than a sprain and instead of missing a week, he is now day-to-day. Center Damian Jones, who has played in only five games, could also be waived, but he has more than $1.5MM guaranteed for next season and the Warriors are reluctant to create dead money. Slater doesn’t expect a decision until well into April.
- Zaza Pachulia has replaced JaVale McGee as the starting center over the past three games, but coach Steve Kerr said that move may not be permanent. He plans to wait until some of his star players return before deciding who will start heading into the postseason. “It’s very different depending on who is on the floor around those guys,” Kerr said. “Right now, the game is played in a much smaller radius for us because we don’t have all the shooting. In that smaller radius, we’re more dependent on screens and moving the ball and things that Zaza is good at. I’ve told all the centers that anything can happen, really, that anything can happen. They all have to stay ready based on matchups.”
- Shooting guard Patrick McCaw may return Monday after missing more than a month with a wrist fracture that he suffered in a G League game. He was putting up disappointing numbers before the injury, but the team is hoping he can be an asset off the bench in the playoffs.
I wouldn’t say the Warriors are sacrificing cap space this summer by cutting Jones now. They’ll have zero cap space either way. His dead salary would only be a factor to how much luxury tax they’d have to pay.