Cory Joseph was one of the Indiana Pacers’ key bench players this season as the Pacers emerged as a surprise Eastern Conference contender. With Cleveland bouncing Indiana from the playoffs with a seven-game win in round one, the Pacers are now looking ahead to the future. It seems Cory Joseph will be back in the fold.
A new report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN indicates Joseph will accept his player option to return to the Pacers.
“Guard Cory Joseph will return to the Indiana Pacers, exercising the $7.95 million player option on his contract for the 2018-19 season,” Wojnarowski reports, citing league sources.
Joseph is currently in the midst of the four-year, $30 million deal he signed with the Toronto Raptors in 2015. Toronto traded him to Indiana for the draft rights of Emir Preldžić in July 2017.
Joseph’s Career
Joseph’s role has increased in each season of his NBA career, which began when the San Antonio Spurs selected him No. 29 overall in the 2011 draft. He was a McDonald’s All-American in 2010 and played only one year at Texas before declaring for the draft. He won an NBA title with the Spurs in 2014 before signing with the Raptors.
In Toronto his minutes jumped from 18.3 per game (2014-15) to 25.6 (2015-16). This season, his first with Indiana, he averaged 27.0 per game and primarily came off the bench, though he did start 17 games as a fill-in. Joseph offered star Victor Oladipo a reprieve and played in all 82 games for the first time in his career.
Joseph, a spark plug, averaged 7.9 points, 3.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game for Nate McMillan’s squad. He helped the Pacers win a surprising 48 games (48-34) and secure the East’s No. 5 seed.
Indiana had an epic series with LeBron James and the Cavs, but the Cavs outlasted the Pacers and won the deciding Game Seven in Cleveland Sunday.
