The Spurs have withdrawn their qualifying offer to Cory Joseph, making the point guard an unrestricted free agent, tweets Mike Monroe of The San Antonio Express-News, who cites a league source.
The Spurs originally extended a qualifying offer to Joseph on June 30, then making him a restricted free agent, but, that, of course, was before the team reached an agreement to sign LaMarcus Aldridge. The move to rescind the offer increases the likelihood that Joseph will not be back with the Spurs, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News tweets. The Spurs still have Joseph’s Bird Rights.
The Raptors, who have been interested in taking a shot at Joseph, have the financial flexibility to overpay, if necessary, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun tweets. The client of Rich Paul filled in nicely this past season as a starter when both Tony Parker and Patty Mills were injured in December and because of that, there’s a distinct possibility of his price tag rising. Joseph is from Canada, and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has pledged to pursue Canadian players, so it is very logical that he’d at least consider signing Joseph. Yet, as Wolstat tweets, the Spurs remain in play.