NBA Rumors: Pacers' Cory Joseph to Exercise Player Option, Make $7.95M

Guard Cory Joseph will exercise his player option and return to the Indiana Pacers next season, as reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday.

Wojnarowski added that Joseph will make $7.95 million in 2018-19, which is the final year of his four-year, $30 million contract.

This season was Joseph's first with the Pacers after previously spending time with the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors.

Last offseason, Indiana acquired Joseph in a trade that sent the draft rights of Emir Preldzic to the Raptors.

The 26-year-old primarily contributed off the bench for Indiana and appeared in all 82 games in a season for the first time in his career.

As one of the Pacers' top reserves, Joseph averaged 7.9 points, 3.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per contest. That represented a slight drop-off from his career-best season with Toronto in 2016-17, when he averaged 9.3 points per game.

Joseph also played a key role during the postseason, as he put up 4.7 points, 3.0 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game in Indiana's first-round, seven-game playoff loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Provided the Pacers don't make any sweeping changes to their backcourt, Joseph is in line to once again be the primary backup to Darren Collison next season.