Norris Cole was traded to the Miami Heat, after being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2011, in a series of trade deals. Not only did a 23-year-old Cole get to play alongside bonafide legends such as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but he also came away with a couple of hilarious stories. Speaking on Gilbert Arenas’ Gil’s Arena, Cole talked about how he was pranked by his Heat teammates when he first arrived in Miami.
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His teammates had given him a locker that previously belonged to LeBron James, who had a habit of keeping two lockers for himself. This led to a hilarious reaction from LeBron when he walked in for training.
“When I first got to the Heat right? LeBron always got 2 lockers. So they put me right next to LeBron, he only had one locker. And he walks in, what’s up fellas? And then he was like, made a funny look, and was like, what’s going on around here?” Cole revealed.
Instead of directly talking to the youngster, LeBron simply instructed someone to get him his locker back. This was after Dwyane Wade’s hilarious reaction, as “D-Wade, he already know, D-Wade was like, he just put his head down.” He knew there would be drama because of the locker Cole had been handed out.
The result was that Norris Cole returned from training to find, “all my stuff is gone, to the locker over there. He put the word in, as soon as I walked out of his sight, he walked in the training room. Y’all know, don’t do the young fella like that, don’t have me look at him crazy, because he came in looking crazy, like,” Cole said.
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Hence, while James had no intention of bullying Norris Cole, the prank was actually played by the rest of the Heat dressing room. Furthermore, rather than it being a simple prank on a rookie, James also found himself caught unawares and told his teammates to not put him in situations that make him go crazy, in front of a rookie. That, according to Cole, was exactly what James did, with his facial expressions while walking in.
Norris Cole won two NBA titles with the Miami Heat
Cole was hardly a starter for the Heat during his initial years and averaged 6.8 points in his first season. With the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh on the roster, the Heat were one of the strongest teams in the league.
They won 2 rings back-to-back in 2012 and 13, with Norris acting as a role player in both campaigns. Hence, apart from having a few hilarious memories to boot, Cole became a 2-time NBA champion due to his move to the Miami Heat.
That was in addition to the experience he gained, playing alongside two of the obvious modern greats, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. James, who was only 27 at the time, was arguably at his very best and was the Finals MVP as well as the Regular Season MVP during both campaigns.
