Ontario Player of the Week April 16 – April 22

This week’s Ontario Player of the Week, with the NBA Playoffs well underway, goes to Team Canada member, NBA Champion and Pickering native Cory Joseph from the Indiana Pacers.

Joseph, a 6’3” point guard, grew up in a basketball family in Pickering – both of Joseph’s parents played basketball at Mount Royal University, he was teammates with his brother Devoe in high school winning back-to-back AAAA OFSAA provincial championships and his second cousin Kris played for Syracuse and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the NBA Draft. He began his youth career as teammates with Kelly Olynyk playing for the Scarborough Blues, with one of their few losses against a rival youth team led by Stephen Curry.

Joseph, along with teammate and good friend Tristan Thompson, led Findlay Prep to back-to-back ESPN Rise National High School championships in 2009 and 2010. Joseph played in the 2010 McDonald’s All-American Game along with the Nike Hoop Summit before committing to the University of Texas to continue playing alongside Thompson.

In Joseph’s lone season at Texas his Longhorns came up short in the third round of the NCAA tournament to Arizona. After the season Joseph was selected to the Big 12 All-Freshman team and declared for the 2011 NBA Draft where he was selected 29thoverall by the San Antonio Spurs.

He began his pro career moving between the Spurs and the D-League multiple times in his first couple seasons, however due to injuries to starter Tony Parker, Joseph was called up and named starting point guard in late February of 2013, and he helped lead them to the NBA Finals that year, losing to Miami in seven games. Joseph and the Spurs made it back to the Finals the following season, where they ended upended Miami in 5 games.

In the summer of 2015, Joseph signed with his hometown Toronto Raptors, playing the majority of his time as a backup to Kyle Lowry, stepping in on occasion whenever Lowry was injured. In the offseason of 2017, Joseph was traded to the Indiana Pacers for guard CJ Miles.

He started in 17 games in his first season in Indiana, and is currently tied into a tough playoff series against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the series is tied 2-2 following a 104-100 loss in game 4 on Sunday, April 22.

Game 5 of the Pacers first round playoff series goes on Wednesday, April 25 from Cleveland as the Pacers try to take a 3-2 series lead.