Warriors trade Cory Joseph to Pacers

Warriors trade Cory Joseph to Pacers

The Golden State Warriors had a relatively quiet trade deadline, making just one fairly predictable move: trading point guard Cory Joseph. According to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Dubs traded Joseph and cash to the Indiana Pacers, in exchange for a second-round draft pick. Per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, it’s a pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft.

It was fairly easy to see this move coming. Signed to be a third string point guard behind Steph Curry and Chris Paul, Joseph had been jumped on the depth chart by youngsters Brandin Podziemski and Lester Quiñones (which says much more about Podziemski and Quiñones than it does about Joseph, who did his job).

That meant that CoJo’s role had been significantly diminished. With the 13-year pro being owed a veteran’s minimum contract, the Dubs are able to shave 10 figures by dumping his contract and converting Quiñones’ two-way contract to a guaranteed contract (assuming that’s the corresponding move … the Warriors can kick that down the road for a while to get a few more tax breaks).

It’s a return to Indy for Joseph, who spent the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons there, appearing in all 82 games both years. Hopefully he’ll be able to carve out a bigger role there, as he’ll move from backing up one All-Star point guard (Curry) to another (Tyrese Haliburton).

Trading Joseph is the only move the Dubs made, as they’re committing to their core and hoping that the returns of Paul, Moses Moody, and Gary Payton II, and hopefully the bounce-back play of Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson will do more than any deadline deal would have accomplished.