5 Warriors who need to step up in Curry's absence

Quinn Cook

This G-League Rookie of the Year and two-time G-league All-Star saw it coming.

Surprised? In February, as Quinn Cook took the floor for his second G-League All-Star game, he would have never imagined that he'd be playing a pivotal role for the NBA Champs on the biggest stage. Never one to give up faith, this young star in the making was not heralded like all the other youngsters making it into the league.

While other players in his class were leaving college for the NBA after their first or second years, he played all four years at Duke University, under Team USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski, eventually winning the NCAA tournament in his last year. After going undrafted, he turned down many lucrative offers he received to play overseas and decided to stick with his NBA dream in the G-League.

Soon, his impact showed both ways as he won the NBA G-League Rookie of the year and played for the Canton Charge and Santa Cruz Warriors over a span of two years. Occasionally receiving ten-day offers and call ups by NBA teams, he signed a two-way contract with the Warriors in early October.

He often joined the team for practices but never received much playing time from Golden State. When the first Curry injury (Ankle) hit on 3rd March, it was an opportune moment for him to step up and so he did. Cook registered a career-high 25 points in a match against the Sacramento Kings, followed by a 28-point outburst the very next night, and finally a 30-point explosion later that month.

His performances were absolutely unheard of for such a recent G-League call-up and so he started garnering attention league-wide. The Golden State Warriors' had struck gold in a way that they had found the an energetic feisty scoring point guard (sounds familiar, right?) to suffice the need of the hour. With their back up point guard (Patrick McCaw) also down with a concussion, Quinn Cook is the closest thing to Steph Curry that the Warriors have seen in a while.