Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players who could be waived for a buyout signing

2. Quinn Cook

Quinn Cook is someone who would seemingly be very valuable in 2021 if you looked at the box score. Cook is a very solid three-point shooter and seemingly offers a really good off-ball presence to any offense.

But it is misleading. Cook is shooting over 40% from beyond the arc in his career but most of that playing time has come either alongside an all-star team in Golden State or in garbage time. There are more holes than not with Cook.

He is not that great at getting open off-ball and is not someone who is going to consistently set good screens for the ballhandler. Second, he is really bad defensively. Frank Vogel and the Lakers really value defense and Cook is one of the worst defensive point guards in the league.

Cook is still a good locker room presence and seems to have a great relationship with LeBron James, which may have saved his job to this point. Cook was actually already waived by the Lakers in the offseason, re-signing with the team two weeks later.

The Lakers made it clear that they are willing to waive Cook if it means getting an upgrade so if an upgrade is available he very well could be out the door.