Daequan Cook has a ‘gut feeling’ he’ll be in OKC next year

Daequan Cook’s agent — Mike Conley Sr. — says he’s already taken a bunch of calls from teams interested in Cook for next season, according to a report. Cook is slated to be a restricted free agent (assuming the Thunder extend a qualifying offer). But he says he wants to be in Oklahoma City. Via the Dayton Daily News:

“That’s where I want to be,” Cook said. “That’s where I fit in. My gut feeling right now is that’s where I’m going to end up. I had a great season there. I helped out a lot. (They like) my habits, becoming not just a better player on the court, but better off the court. It all starts there.”

Sam Presti, Scott Brooks and the Thunder were definitely fans of Cook in OKC. They loved the fact the despite starting the season slowly that he kept working and eventually cracked the rotation again and best of all, produced. That scores high marks with this organization.

It’s a numbers game for Cook. He made $2.1 million last season and depending on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, he’ll probably fall in line somewhere around there. He’s nothing more than a role player that will see 10-20 minutes a game, so he’s not going to demand a big contract. The Thunder really value a player like him that can stretch the floor and hit a 3 when called upon and Cook did that well this season.

OKC will have some sort of 3-point specialist on the roster — it’s just a matter of whether it’s Cook or not. The team signed D-Leaguer Robert Vaden at the end of the year likely to take a good long look at him as a potential replacement if things don’t work out with Cook.

I’m like Cook though — my gut feeling says he’s back next year too.