When Quinn Cook arrived at the Lakers facility on Saturday, he was greeted with the familiar and the unfamiliar.
It was the same building where he'd spent September through mid-March, but so much else had changed.
After driving through the gate to the secluded players' parking lot, Cook had to stop at a station set up outside the building in which his temperature was checked by nurses. Before he entered the building, Andrew Henk, the team's equipment manager, provided Cook with shoes to wear inside.
"We had to leave whatever we wore, whatever shoes and flip-flops we wore, we had to leave them outside," Cook said during an Instagram live session with his teammate Jared Dudley. "We had to wash our hands as soon as we walk in the door. Once we get inside, all of our stuff is kind of right there on the court."
Cook and Devontae Cacok were the only two players to use the facility on Saturday. Dudley said he and Danny Green planned to use the facility on Monday. The Lakers facility has been closed since mid-March when the NBA closed all team facilities. Around that time, two Lakers players tested positive for Covid-19. The league finally allowed teams to begin opening their facilities on May 8.
Cook has spent most of the past two months in Los Angeles, but he did go to Atlanta for a little while and worked out with Jarrett Jack, who spent 13 seasons in the NBA and now plays on the G-league's Sioux Falls Skyforce. Cook said he returned when it seemed Los Angeles was starting to loosen its restrictions, and to avoid the more aggressive loosening of restrictions that Georgia was conducting. Players are still asked not to patronize open businesses.
Public health officials allowed the Lakers to open their facility on Saturday for individual workouts with no more than four players in the building at a time under the supervision of their hygiene officer, director of sports performance Judy Seto. The county deemed use of the facility for individual workouts as acceptable because it was part of "rehabilitation and physical wellness."
The players can work with one assistant coach _ Cook worked with Mike Penberthy _ and both player and coach must follow strict protocols while inside.
Cook said he was required to wear a mask once he entered the building, but not while conducting his workout. Penberthy wore a mask and gloves at all times. Cook also worked with strength coach Gunnar Peterson in a slightly altered weight room with the machines spread a little bit farther apart than they normally are.
"It just felt good to be back in the facility," Cook said.
