Norris Cole Signs With New Orleans Pelicans

Norris Cole didn’t find any tempting offers coming his way this year so it looks like he will settle for a qualifying offer for now.

Cole, a two-time NBA champion when he was still with the Miami Heat, has reportedly agreed to a one-year qualifying offer worth $3 million to stay with the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal was first reported by Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports.

Guard Norris Cole signed a 1-year qualifying offer paying $3.03 million with Pelicans & will be a UFA next year, agent Rich Paul told Yahoo.

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) September 16, 2015

Moreover, Cole was the 28th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft and spent his first four seasons with the Miami Heat. Cole was sent packing on February 19, 2015 after he was included in a multi-team trade between the Heat, Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns.

Like his role in Miami, Cole comes off the bench to spell the starters though he did catch a break last season when Jrue Holiday went down with an injury (stress reaction injury - lower right leg).

Cole would eventually start in place of Holiday and heading into the coming season, it looks like the setup will continue until Holiday is back to 100% health.

With the Heat, Cole played mostly as a backup guard behind Mario Chalmers. Cole had his moments but found it hard to blossom under a talent-rich line-up the Heat have.

In New Orleans, Cole is in a slightly similar position only that he does carry something that most of them don’t have - championship experience.

Cole averaged 9.9 points and 3.2 assists as a Pelican last year but it was more of his leadership that the Pelicans were interested in.

Such is the reason why even resident star Anthony Davis led the call for the Pelicans to make sure that the 26-year-old guard be brought back as the team tries to do better than their 2014-15 NBA playoff milestone.

"He did a wonderful job for us in the playoffs,'' Davis said during a conference call in July. ''When we brought him along with Quincy and Donte (Cunningham), we kind of went to a different level you know defensively. He brought a lot to the table for us.''

Cole was actually offered the qualifying offer several weeks ago but player agent Rich Paul tried to strike a deal in the free agent market which could possibly pay him more. Cole drew interest from teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers.

In the event that Cole would have been given a higher offer, the Pelicans could still match the offer and retain him.