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Ex-NBA player says Hawks told him to buy a home, then waived him the day he moved in
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- Ex-NBA player says Hawks told him to buy a home, then waived him the day he moved in
The NBA isn't for the faint of heart, on or off the court. There's virtually no time to relax, and the moment a player does, the league almost immediately reminds him it was foolhardy.
A player who knows this well is former NBA champion Quinn Cook . Before he found his footing with the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won championships, he bounced from team to team, hoping to earn a roster spot. One team he thought he would get to was the Atlanta Hawks, with whom he signed a contract in September 2017.
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In fact, he felt so confident about his prospects that he decided to purchase his first house in the A – a decision that would later on prove erroneous.
An uphill climb
Even though Cook played at Duke, earning an NBA roster spot proved difficult. Standing 6'1″, he was a point guard with decent handles and playmaking skills. He could drain the 3-ball, as shown by his 40.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc over his five-year career, but did little else.
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However, the Hawks saw potential and signed him to a contract. Still, Cook kept one eye on the possibility of getting cut again, an experience he had gone through many times. However, his agent was confident he would stick.
"I'm calling my agent. I'm like, 'Man, what's up?' They like, 'Man, you good,' blah, blah, blah.The GM's like, 'Man, you should get a crib out here,' you know what I'm saying? I live in a hotel," Cook shared .
"I'm like, 'Bro, you sure?' Like, you know what I'm saying? 'Cause, like, you know, I'm tired of living in a hotel, but I also been cut numerous times. So, like, I'm like, 'Bro, you sure, bro?'" he added. "So my agent like, 'Yeah, bro, you 99% you going to make the team. Like, they going to love you—I mean, they love you,' blah, blah, blah."
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"So I'm like, 'What's the other 1%, though? Like, you ain't say 100. You say 99.' They like, 'Man, if a trade happens, you good.'"
Cook gets a spot
With his agent's vote of confidence, Cook decided to buy a house. It started off on a pleasant note but later took a nightmarish turn.
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"I finally get my spot. Moving day, we had an off day, and, like, my contract was guaranteed the next day. I go in there and nobody really say nothing to me. It's a regular day. I move all my stuff. I had my brother come down. We mounting TVs, we picking up, uh, drawers and beds, putting everything together," Cook relayed, remembering the details as if it happened yesterday.
But just as Cook finally put his feet up and watched a movie in his own abode, his agent called. He didn't bother to answer at first, but as the calls kept coming, he finally did.
"They was like, 'Yeah, they just did a trade. Kay Felder, Richard Jefferson from Cleveland. To make the trade, they had to waive you," Cook disclosed.
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Cook wanted to quit
It was a disheartening turn of events that made Cook want to quit and give up on the sport.
"I'm about to just take the year off. Everybody like, 'Man, just sleep on it. Sleep on it.' That's the first day where I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit. I just wanted to, like, just chill. Like, I mean, I got some friends who I could just be around and just have some positive stuff going on," he revealed.
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Cook, though, was surprised to see his phone blowing up with calls from Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. Three days after the Hawks waived him, the Warriors signed him to a contract for the 2017-18 season. He eventually became a vital rotation guy, averaging 9.5 points and shooting 44.2 percent from long distance, for a team that won the NBA title that season.
"I got cut by the worst team, and then I got signed by the best team the next day," Cook stated. "But God reminded me, like, 'Quinn, like, don't doubt me. I got you,' you know what I'm saying?"
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Oct 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
