Evan Cook’s basketball career landed him on the court at Groton-Dunstable High School, Wheaton College and Suffolk University. His latest landing pad has been in Dublin, Ireland, where the Suffolk alum has joined the international ranks of professional basketball players, becoming a member of the Dublin Lions.
While at Suffolk for his Masters in Business Administration, Cook cashed in on an extra year of play time after the COVID pandemic impacted his undergraduate years and basketball career at Wheaton. Only doing three seasons there, captaining the Lyons for two of them, he had his sights set on a graduate program that would keep him on the court.
When Cook joined Suffolk’s roster in 2023, he had plenty of experience and accolades to prove himself a valuable player to the roster, even from his high school days, like The Lowell Sun’s Most Valuable Player in 2019, and plenty of play time from his former college career. Cook was hesitant to enter a new program after so much time spent as a Lyon, but was met with open arms to kick off his year as a Ram.
“I was just on a team for four years. I had been super comfortable with the coach, my teammates,” said Cook. “But coach [Jeff] Juron was great, and the team was mostly juniors and freshmen, who were so accepting right away. I got along with everyone right away.”
During his year at Suffolk as a point guard, Cook became the 32nd player to join Suffolk’s 1,000-point club. As his time wrapped up with the Rams, he was able to make headway pursuing his dream to be a professional in the basketball world.
With some friends encouraging the idea of taking his game abroad and having traveled to Switzerland for a class in his MBA program at Suffolk, Cook began taking the prospect of heading overseas for a career seriously.
“They were really promoting it to me, and I thought ‘you know what, this sounds amazing. I want to do the same thing.’ Especially at this age, you can’t really play forever,” said Cook. “I really put in a lot of work after the Suffolk season to get better and connect with overseas coaches.”
Traditionally, overseas players will hire agents in the regions they’re looking to play, who connect players with coaches and opportunities. Cook was already entrenched in the circuit through friends and connections he had made through his lengthy basketball career. With two friends who already started their careers in Ireland, Cook was able to get the ear of coaches himself.
His first prospective team in Ireland fell through after a month of talking with coaches about the opportunity.
“Basically because I didn’t seem as interested, or I guess on the ball with things. They felt another player wanted to be there more, that’s basically what they told me,” said Cook. “I was like wow okay, because I wasn’t sure, it’s hard to move away from family, and a whole new life for seven months, it was a big decision.”
When soon after that, Cook got word from his roommate and teammate from his days at Wheaton that a team cut their American point guard, he knew he had to take the opportunity seriously. After locking down a deal with the Dublin Lions, the scramble to get the paperwork to move abroad began.
“I got the contact info of the coach, sent all my stuff, my highlights, all that. I was fortunate enough they liked me. So it came down to trying to get a visa,” said Cook. “Usually that takes a month, but I went right to the Ireland embassy in Boston. I explained the situation.”
After a week and a half of waiting, he was able to start a career on the Dublin Lions. Cook fulfilled a dream of his. He is now working as a full-time professional player and living at a facility for his team in a new country. He’s at practice and playing games against the other teams in the Ireland National Basketball League and giving back to the basketball club by coaching youth teams.
Even with the experience Cook had, he said his first game as a Lion wasn’t his best and the pressure was on to prove that he was up for this opportunity. Being in foul trouble and having a “dud” of a game, as Cook described it, left him feeling stressed about the decision, but a 39-point second game had Cook regaining the confidence that he was ready for the professional circuit.
“I introduced myself as a legit player, and my team accepted me after that, like they didn’t know who ‘this guy’ was until then,” said Cook. “Ever since then, I’ve just been playing well.”
Although Cook is playing the same game overseas, the culture on the court and off the court has a different focus. When playing for Wheaton and Suffolk, the game was about getting the play and the points regardless of how. Now being abroad, he’s had to shift his focus to his personal stats on the court.
“A lot of overseas professionals will move from team to team and country to country, so there’s a big emphasis on getting your stats in, which I kind of hate, to be honest,” said Cook.
Alongside the shift towards stats in the games, Cook said the experience has felt more relaxed than even his time doing college sports. He said his team practices less than the Rams did during his year at Suffolk.
While there has been a shift in the basketball culture, being in Ireland has been a steady transition, despite Cook having concerns ahead of travelling to the program. With no language barrier in Dublin, a good understanding of the culture and a good group of people in the program and in the local community, he’s found a second home in the country’s capital city.
“I get along with the local people, everyone here is very welcoming and they love that I’m American actually,” said Cook.
Being abroad can get lonely for Cook at times, which is why his connections in the states, like family and the expansive basketball network he built while playing in America have been a huge help for him in this journey.
“My Wheaton teammates and coaches, my Suffolk teammates and coaches, all my friends, they’ve watched. And obviously my family is number one,” said Cook.
Being involved in professional sports overseas is far different from the United States sports culture. Although he said he is “nowhere near” to a level of sports stars here, Cook has been getting a taste of being a celebrity locally, getting recognized at local bars and coffee shops.“I’ll do sponsorship events at restaurants. I’ll sign little autographs at the games like little kids will come up to me,” said Cook. “A lot of people follow me on social media, and people make me mixtapes. It’s cool and a lot of fun.”
Now an overseas professional himself, Cook has no plans to back down. For most players, stints with teams are only a year. While the Dublin Lions have been a home for Cook in this first season of his professional career, he does have the opportunity to look towards other countries to play for. Regardless of whether he stays in Dublin or looks towards other teams he wants to keep going with the game he’s been dedicated to.
“My plan right now is to weigh my options, but continue to play. I think I’ll hire an agent for next season, or reach out to my connections in South America or Australia. I want to keep this thing going,” said Cook.
