JULY 6: The signing of Joseph is official, tweets James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link).
JULY 1: The Kings have reached an agreement to sign Cory Joseph, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). According to Haynes, the free agent point guard will receive a three-year, $37MM commitment from Sacramento. Sam Amick of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the third year is partially guaranteed.
The agreement caps a busy day for the Kings, who filled a series of holes on their roster, adding quality depth via the free agent market. In addition to striking a deal with Joseph, the Kings agreed to re-sign Harrison Barnes and will add outside free agents Trevor Ariza and Dewayne Dedmon.
Joseph, who is entering his age-28 season, backed up Darren Collison at the point last season for Indiana, averaging 6.5 PPG, 3.9 APG, and 3.4 RPG in 82 games (25.2 MPG). He struggled a little with his shot, as his .412 FG% was the lowest mark he had posted since his rookie season.
In Sacramento, Joseph figures to back up – and perhaps play alongside – promising young point guard De’Aaron Fox.
The Kings will have to renounce restricted free agent Willie Cauley-Stein in order to accommodate all of today’s contract agreements. Amick confirms that the team has rescinded his qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks indicated after the earlier moves that Sacramento would have about $13MM in space remaining if Cauley-Stein’s cap hold was removed from the books, so Joseph’s deal will use just about all of that space. The Kings still have the room exception available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Vlade the destroyer
Stein to the lakers?
More like Clippers.. Lakers getting Kawhi
I liked him as a 7-8 mil PG. Less so at 13-14.
Yeah. Weird signing for a backup.
I get that Sacramento isn’t a market players flock to and they have to overpay. But damn they overpaid big time for a bunch of vets that don’t really move the needle.
Maybe Vlade thinks all these guys plus their youngsters lift them to the playoffs. What I see if they overpaid for 2 bench guys, made Harrison Barnes the new Rudy Gay and gave Trevor Ariza an awesome retirement plan that’ll inevitably be bought out so he can join a contender at some point.
Well said
But they just want to make the playoffs this year.
Prob best Kings team in a while
Spot on. What other team was going $10M+ over 3 Yrs on Cory Joseph? The Barnes deal is less of an overlay. Youthful wing that’ll cover up the Defensive shortcomings of the undersized guards plus thrive in a 3 & D wing role. Not sure Dedmon was worth the $ but he’s a pro that’ll add a starting center, albeit not a true difference maker. Spaces the floor a bit and adequate on D. The Ariza deal, every coach thinks they need a veteran but he’ll have an overlapping role with Barnes. Kings overpaid for depth.
Dedmon
Bagley
Barnes
Hield
Fox
Bojan
Ariza
Cory Joseph
Ariza
Sold albeit unspectacular rotation.
Stein to the Celtics?
Common denominator is defense. Ariza and Joseph will guard you hard. Both guys play hard. Gotta have a bench. Houston wishes they still had ariza.
so who is playing point in Indiana?
Oladipo
Brogdon and Holiday as backup most likely