Omar-Sharif Cook ( sr, Omar-Šarif Kuk / Омар-Шариф Кук; born January 28, 1982) is an American-Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League. He represented Montenegro internationally. Prior to entering the draft he was considered a top 10 overall prospect by several NBA scouts.

Amateur career

Cook played high school basketball at

Christ The King Regional High School Christ the King Regional High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school for grades 9-12 located in Middle Village, Queens, New York, United States and established in 1962. It is located within the Roman Catholic Dioces ...

, and then played college basketball at

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

. Cook ranked second in the nation and first in the Big East in assists during the one year he spent at St. John's. He also broke

Mark Jackson Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard from St. John's University, he played for the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah ...

's record for the most assists in a game for a St. John's player with 17, against

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

Professional career

Cook was drafted by the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

as the third pick in the second round (31st overall) of the

2001 NBA Draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, ...

. He was immediately traded to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, but failed to make the team, reportedly because of his inability to shoot the ball effectively. From 2001 to 2004, Cook made some pre-season appearances for teams in the league, also managing 22 regular season games played (17 with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2003–04 season and five with the Toronto Raptors in the 2004–05 season). In July 2005, he was drafted by the AAPBL, but the league folded less than two weeks after the draft. He also briefly led the NBA D-League in steals and assists in the 2004–05 season, while playing with the Fayetteville Patriots. Cook's final NBA game was played on April 20th, 2005 in a 104 - 95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his final game, Cook recorded 19 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. During the 2005–06 season, Cook played in the Belgian league with Dexia Mons-Hainaut. The following year, he played with two teams, the French Pro A club SIG Strasbourg and the Russian Super League club

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

. In the 2007–08 season, he played with the Adriatic League club Crvena zvezda. He had the best season of his career with Crvena zvezda, where he was one of the team leaders. On June 26, 2008, he joined the Spanish league's Unicaja, signing with the club for two seasons. In 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Spanish basketball club Power Electronics Valencia. In 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Italian team

Armani Jeans Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. In December 2012, after Milano was eliminated from the Euroleague, Cook signed with Caja Laboral until the end of the season. On August 6, 2013, Cook signed with Lietuvos rytas of Lithuania for the 2013–14 season. On September 30, 2014, Cook signed a two-month deal with

Budućnost Podgorica Budućnost means "the future" in many Slavic languages, and it may also refer to: *SD Budućnost Podgorica, a sports society from Podgorica, Montenegro ** KK Budućnost Podgorica, a professional basketball club FK Budućnost may refer to: * FK Bud ...

of Montenegro. On November 14, 2014, he extended his contract with Budućnost for the rest of the season. On August 15, 2015, he re-signed with Budućnost for one more season. On August 20, 2016, Cook signed with Spanish club Estudiantes for the 2016–17 season. On July 17, 2019, Cook signed a one-plus-one deal with

Herbalife Gran Canaria Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

. On July 24, 2020, he has signed with

San Pablo Burgos Club Baloncesto San Pablo Burgos, S.A.D., previously known as Club Baloncesto Miraflores and also known as Hereda San Pablo Burgos by sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Burgos, Spain and plays in the Coliseum Burgos. ...

of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

. On July 15, 2021, he has signed with Casademont Zaragoza of the

Coaching Career

On September 29, 2022, Cook was hired as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 17 , , 0 , , 8.2 , , .259 , , .000 , , .000 , , .4 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , .0 , , .8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;", Toronto , 5 , , 0 , , 14.8 , , .417 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.4 , , 4.4 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 4.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 22 , , 0 , , 9.7 , , .333 , , .000 , , .500 , , .6 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , .0 , , 1.7

Montenegrin national team

In May 2008, Cook received Montenegrin citizenship, thus applying to represent Montenegro's national basketball team.Cook officially a Montenegrin.