12:11pm: The Pistons don’t have much interest in Cole, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press hears (Twitter link).
11:50am: Cole could be conveyed through the Suns to the Pistons if the Heat convince the Suns to take him on as part of a deal involving Goran Dragic, Wojnarowski tweets.
THURSDAY, 11:22am: The Thunder are a possible suitor for Cole as well, if they deal Reggie Jackson to the Nets, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
5:31pm: The Pistons are also interested in acquiring Cole, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The Heat are trying to attach Granger to any deal involving Cole, Stein confirms.
WEDNESDAY, 12:25pm: The Wizards have been in pursuit of Norris Cole, but the Heat have set a high asking price, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM. The Wizards have been looking for backcourt help, but they’ve appeared more likely to make a free agent signing than a trade. Still, Washington is reportedly willing to give up a first-round pick in a deal.
Miami reportedly tried to attach Danny Granger to Cole when the Pistons recently offered Jonas Jerebko for Cole. Heat team president Pat Riley denied that he proposed a deal that would have sent Cole to the Nets, but trade rumors have continued to swirl, as the Hornets and Bucks appear to have interest in the soon-to-be restricted free agent. Cole switched agencies this past offseason, hiring Cleveland-based Rich Paul, but he hasn’t been linked to the Cavs and former Heat teammate LeBron James.
Cole’s outside shot has been off this season, as I noted when I examined his trade candidacy, and proficient shooting has been an asset the Wizards have targeted. That suggests Washington wouldn’t go too far to satisfy Miami’s demands, though that’s just my speculation. Cole is making $2.038MM this season in the final year of his rookie scale contract.
Looks like Washington could only DeJuan Blair in return as far as players go, unless they want to dip into either their Ariza TE or being taxed.
Wording on the Pistons part is somewhat confusing. So would he be traded to Detroit and then to Phoenix? Or does Norris Cole land in Detroit when it’s all said and done? Hopefully the former.