1. He’s young
With much of their cap space tied up under the contracts of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and with three first-round drafts picks having been jettisoned in order to acquire Davis, the Lakers need all the young prospects they can get their hands on.
Cook is 26, and although he may always be a one-dimensional player, he is great at that one dimension, and he should have an opportunity to be a fixture of this team for years to come, even after LeBron either retires or leaves.
Having players like that should alleviate the need for the Lakers to look elsewhere for talent and use up their precious cap space to augment their roster, as they can simply run it back and go over the cap to re-sign their incumbent players.
Since Cook is young, the Lakers were able to get him on a team-friendly contract. He will make $3 million in each of the next two seasons, and given that the average NBA salary is much higher than that, he could turn out to be quite a bargain.