Aaron Cook Jr. (born December 28, 1997) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a professional basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Sportcomplex 1574. Z ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Southern Illinois Salukis The Southern Illinois Salukis are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The nickname comes from the Saluki, the Royal Dog of Egypt and the Persian greyhound, which ties into the fact that southern Ill ...

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs (), also known unofficially as the Zags, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

, and

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

High school career

Cook grew up in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, and attended Westminster Christian Academy in nearby Town and Country. As a junior, he averaged over 16 points per game and led his team to a 24–6 record and a district championship. In his senior year, he finished with the sixth-highest scoring average in St. Louis with 22.1 points per game. He helped his team finish 24–6 and was named First Team All-Metro by the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

''. Cook was not heavily recruited out of high school. On October 2, 2015, he verbally committed to play college basketball at

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

over offers from

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

South Dakota State South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the second oldest continually operating universit ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Eastern Illinois,

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

, and Jacksonville State.

College career

Southern Illinois

Coming into his freshman season, Cook missed some time with a torn labrum. As a freshman, Cook played in 32 of SIU's 33 games, playing backup point guard and averaged 3.0 points and 0.9 assists in 10.6 minutes of play. On January 24, 2018, Cook scored a career-high 25 points in an 82–77 win versus

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

. On February 14, he sank the game-winning free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining in an 81–80 overtime win against Missouri State. As a sophomore, Cook averaged 9.8 points and 2.7 assists per game. Cook started 32 of 33 games, led the team in 3-point shooting percentage at 38.4 percent, tied Marcus Bartley for the team lead with 90 assists, and finished with 47 steals. He was named to the MVC Most-Improved Team as well as the MVC All-Academic Second-Team. Cook scored a junior season-high 23 points on December 8, in an 83–73 victory over Southeast Missouri State. In his junior year, Cook started every game, averaging 10.5 points and 3.7 assists per game, and was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Second Team. As a senior, Cook played in just six games before breaking his right hand in a loss to

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky, in the Southern United States. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper-level an ...

. Despite initially being ruled out for four to six weeks, Cook took a medical redshirt and missed the remainder of the season. Cook was leading the Salukis in scoring (15.0 points per game) and assists (3.3 per game) before he was sidelined with the injury, and he was named to the Sunshine Slam All-Tournament team.

Gonzaga

On April 7, 2020, Cook announced that he was transferring to

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

for his redshirt senior season. He chose the Bulldogs over offers from DePaul,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and Santa Clara. Cook averaged 4.2 points, 1.7 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game.

Georgia

On May 24, 2021, Cook announced he was transferring to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, taking advantage on an additional season of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On November 16, he scored 22 points in a 76–60 victory over

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. It is the only public, historically black land-grant research university in South Carolina, is a member o ...

and surpassed the 1,000-point threshold. Cook averaged 10.5 points, 5.4 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.

Professional career

On September 29, 2022, Cook signed his first professional contract with

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club (, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou''; ), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the first division, it holds home games at the Paralimni Municipal Stadium "Ta ...

of the Cypriot league. In 2023, he joined Nevėžis Kėdainiai of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

. Cook averaged 5.7 points, 2.8 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game. On August 22, 2023, he signed with

KB Peja Klubi i Basketbollit Peja ( English: ''Basketball Club Peja'') is a Kosovan professional basketball club based in Pejë. The club competes in the Kosovo Basketball Superleague, Kosovo Cup and Liga Unike. The team's roster has included big names ...

of the

Kosovo Basketball Superleague The Kosovo Basketball Superleague (Albanian: Superliga e Kosovës në Basketboll) and known as the ProCredit Superliga due to sponsorship reasons is the top men's professional basketball league in Kosovo. Basketball Superleague was founded in 1991 ...

. On November 10, Cook signed with

Eisbären Bremerhaven Eisbären Bremerhaven () is a professional basketball club from Bremerhaven, Germany, that competes in the ProA. The team was established as the professional section of the club BSG Bremerhaven and played in the first-tiered Basketball Bundesliga ...

of the German

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

. During summer 2024, he signed with

of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 0 , , 10.6 , , .333 , , .185 , , .776 , , .8 , , .9 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 3.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 30.0 , , .439 , , .384 , , .696 , , 2.3 , , 2.7 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 32.8 , , .396 , , .348 , , .651 , , 2.4 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 6 , , 31.2 , , .552 , , .273 , , .591 , , 3.0 , , 3.3 , , 3.2 , , .2 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 1 , , 13.4 , , .500 , , .350 , , .657 , , 1.6 , , 1.7 , , .9 , , .1 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 32.2 , , .381 , , .282 , , .705 , , 2.7 , , 5.4 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 10.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 164 , , 102 , , 24.2 , , .415 , , .326 , , .686 , , 2.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 7.9

Personal life

Cook is the son of Aaron Cook Sr. and Regina Cook. His father was a star basketball player at Jennings High in suburban St. Louis and is in that school's athletic hall of fame. From there, his father matriculated to what is now known as Harris-Stowe State University, where he was a four-year starter for the Hornets in the NAIA (small-college classification). Aaron Cook Jr's grandfather, Jimmie Cook, was an immensely successful high school coach in St. Louis, leading the McKinley High Goldbugs to the 1982 Missouri Class 2A boys state basketball title.

References

External links

Georgia Bulldogs bioGonzaga Bulldogs bioSouthern Illinois Salukis bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Aaron Jr. 1997 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Kosovo American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania American men's basketball players Basketball players from St. Louis BC Nevėžis players Georgia Bulldogs basketball players Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players KB Peja players Point guards Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball players ZZ Leiden players