The Lakers officially resigned from Quinn Cook on Wednesday, which means the team now has two open spots in the squad and is far enough away to add two players to the veteran’s minimal negotiations for the rest of the season and the playoffs. Will the team do that? Almost certainly, but according to coach Frank Vogel, nothing is necessarily imminent.
“We will always look for opportunities to improve our team, but nothing concrete now,” said Vogel before the team’s loss to Jazz.
Vogel was specifically asked whether the Lakers could add players to 10-day contracts, something the team could do to, in essence, check out some options on a rental before committing to hiring them for the rest of the season. NBA teams can sign 10-day deals with players twice during the season, before deciding whether or not to let them leave or hire them for the rest of the season.
A more likely option, however, may be for the Lakers to wait even closer to the March 25 trading deadline, when they could try to make a deal – something they say they are discussing – or try to sign players who are bought immediately, or negotiated and dismissed. This would prevent the team from getting any immediate help while trying to survive the absences of Dennis Schröder and Anthony Davis, but Schröder should be back in the next game, and Davis probably shortly after the All-Star break next week. They don’t necessarily need to plug holes right away, and let’s be realistic: no players available at the moment are helping to make up for those absences, anyway. Sorry, waiters Dion. It is better for the Lakers to wait, even if that losing streak was bad.
But if you want something more specific than that, Vogel is not your guy. When pressed on what kind of needs Lakers can seek to address with potential additions to their list broadly, he closed the question.
“We are just looking at the players who are available. I will not discuss any kind of need that we are discussing internally ”, said Vogel.
This is completely understandable, because, after all, the Lakers have no incentive to report publicly. However, this means that we will be in the dark about your intentions for some time. That said, while it is foolish to assume that Lakers fans will “be sure” of anything now – have you seen the social media and comment section on this site during the current losing streak? – they should at least be aware that the Lakers got rid of Cook because they want to improve. This was made clear by hearing what Vogel had to say.
“He will definitely be missed. First of all, he is a great basketball player. We had depth in that position and that’s the only reason he wasn’t entering, but I had a lot of confidence in his skills, ”said Vogel of Cook. “And he is a 10 out of 10 culture suited to our group. You understand his role, and you need guys like that. When you’re filling out a list, you need guys who are willing to not play, but are still ready to contribute when their number is called, and he exemplified this in the best possible way.
“He did a great job for us and we certainly wish him well.”
But the Lakers did not say goodbye to a teammate as dear as you will find in the NBA because they are happy with the way they are playing. They wished Cook the best because, despite all Vogel’s buzzwords, they want to improve their basketball team. Even though it is not yet clear how they will do it, at least they have made it clear that they will try.
Because the reality is that Cook was an MVP of friendship. But, as Kobe Bryant once said, “Friends can come and go, but the banners hang on forever.” It is safe to say that his former agent and best friend, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, is well aware of this philosophy in ensuring that this team maximizes their chances of repeating.
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