Pacers guard Cory Joseph will exercise his $7.95 million player option to return with the team for the 2018-19 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Joseph will reach unrestricted free agency next July.
Indiana’s Cory Joseph will exercise player option on contract for next season and return to Pacers, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 2, 2018
Several other players are expected to exercise player options in the coming weeks, as Wojnarowski noted, with free agency’s kickoff set for midnight on July 1. The Mavericks’ Wesley Matthews became the first player to decide to exercise his option this week, as reported by several media outlets.
Joseph, 26, played a key role as back-up point guard for the Pacers this season. His reliable production off the bench earned him a career-high 27 minutes per game in 82 games — 17 of which he was named a starter. He averaged 7.9 points and 3.2 assists per game on 42 percent shooting.
Joseph, a seasoned veteran who’s played more than 70 career Playoff games, signed a four-year, $30 million contract with the Raptors in the summer of 2015. Toronto traded him to Indiana last July in exchange for the draft rights of Emir Preldzic, freeing up cap space.
For the Pacers, the team holds several team options on players with free agency just two months away. Thaddeus Young remains the only other player with a player option at $13.7 million. Young expressed a desire to return in his exit meeting with the Pacers, although it’s unclear what his decision will be.
“We like those guys,” Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard said when asked about Joseph and Young on Tuesday. “We’d like to have them back. Both of those guys are core to what we do.”
