Toronto Raptors finalize Cory Joseph trade with Indiana Pacers

The Toronto Raptors have officially traded Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers for the draft rights to forward Emir Preldzic, the team announced Friday.

The Toronto Raptors second trade of the offseason is now official, with Cory Joseph heading to the Indiana Pacers for Emir Preldzic, the team announced Friday. Originally, this trade was thought to be a sign-and-trade deal swapping Joseph for C.J. Miles, but that’s not the case.

Instead, the Raptors will acquire the rights to Preldzic and sign Miles with their mid-level exception (MLE). By signing Miles with their MLE, which starts at $8.406 million, the Raptors can work an option into his deal, which is something the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibits in sign-and-trade deals. Additionally, the Raptors will create a $7.63 million trade exception for themselves by trading Joseph’s salary.

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So, overall, the Raptors were able to add an option to Miles’ deal, a $7.63M trade exception, which is their second trade exception (the team also has an $11.8 million trade exception from the DeMarre Carroll trade), stash a player overseas, and just get under the salary cap. Not too shabby, Masai.

As for Preldzic, he’s a 29-year-old forward who will more than likely never play in the NBA. The Turkish native was drafted 57th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft and his rights have been traded four times since then. Essentially, he was included in this deal because, well, team’s have to include something.

When it comes to Joseph, his departure from the Raptors is bitter sweet. A native of Pickering, CoJo was praised as the “hometown guy” for the Raptors and he was a fantastic ambassador for not only the Raptors, but for the game of basketball as a whole. The Ontario Basketball Association tweeted out a heartfelt thank you letter to Joseph on Friday.

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I can’t speak on behalf of everyone, but having seen the way CoJo interacted with fans in the community, media members, and players, he was always a class act and consummate professional. On behalf of everyone here at Tip of the Tower, thank you for always giving us the time of day to speak and coming on our podcast, Cory. We greatly appreciate it and best of luck in Indiana.