Report: Raptors open to trading guard Jose Calderon

If only there were a couple big name teams out there looking for a point guard….

Interesting note from Marc Stein of ESPN:

Sources with knowledge of Toronto’s thinking say that the team is not just going to give Calderon away, especially when he’s back to supplying a typically efficient 10.6 points and 8.7 assists nightly, but I’m told that the Raps are indeed open to moving him.

Calderon is playing well, 10.4 points and more than 7 assists per game, he can shoot the three and is an above-average decision maker and playmaker at the point. Teams like the Lakers and Knicks should be drooling over him.

But there are two challenges to getting a deal done.

One is that he is due to make $11 million next season, which means any team that gets him is going to have to take on that salary and have someone the Raptors want back in that price range. They are rebuilding, so that may not be easy.

Second, Stein says that the Raptors would want a point guard back to balance the roster. That makes it hard for the Lakers or Knicks, who wouldn’t be desperate for one if they had a point guard already.

But as the deadline approaches, it’s a name to watch.