By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Moving into the crunch time of the 2021-22 campaign in both the Basketball Champions League and ACB, Unicaja released Norris Cole upon mutual agreement, the team announced Monday.
Cole, 33, penned a one-year contract in August. However, he reached an agreement with the Spanish club and he will finish the season in France with JL Bourg, but without having the chance to compete in the EuroCup, where no additions in the roster are permitted anymore.
The two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013 last played in late January. Before getting sidelined, he had logged 6.7 points, 4.2 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.7 steals per BCL contest, and 13.3 points, 4.2 assists, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per ACB game.
Since his last appearance in the NBA during the 2017 Playoffs, he has displayed his talents in Spain, France, Montenegro, Italy, and Israel. Experience in the Old Continent contains 15 BCL appearances between Unicaja and Avellino in 2018-19 to go along with 73 games played in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Buducnost VOLI, and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, and ten in the 7DAYS EuroCup as a member AS Monaco.
In addition, he played in China’s CBA to start the 2016-17 season before joining the Oklahoma City Thunder. Throughout his NBA career, apart from playing for the Heat for four seasons, he spent a couple of years in the New Orleans Pelicans.
The team based in Malaga, headed by Ibon Navarro after parting ways with Greek tactician Fotis Katsikaris in early February, will find out its Champions League Quarterfinals opponent off Friday’s draw after surviving the Regular Season and the Round of 16. At the domestic level, the poor 9-14 W-L tally sits 3.5 games outside the Playoffs zone.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League