NBA Trade Rumors: Don't Expect Toronto to Find a New Team for Jose Calderon

It comes as no surprise to anyone who follows the Toronto Raptors that veteran point guard Jose Calderon is on the trade block, as Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld notes:

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When the Raptors acquired Kyle Lowry over the offseason, the Raptors worked with Calderon’s camp and tried to find a new home for the 31-year-old point guard. Toronto didn’t find a deal that they liked, but they’ll continue to explore their options in the coming months. Calderon remains on the block and his name is going to come up a lot between now and the trade deadline.

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But being available and having a market for someone's services are two entirely different things.

It's not that Calderon is a terrible player, because he's not. He remains an excellent distributor, ranking third in the NBA last season in assist ratio. Calderon has a solid stroke from outside and is virtually automatic from the charity strife.

However, he's injury prone, doesn't attack the lane often enough to create space for his teammates and is a liability on defense, about as quick laterally as I am and looks like he's standing still when tasked with guarding a fast, aggressive point guard.

But teams could get past all of that.

What they can't get past is the fact that he brings with him a $10.56 million cap hit in 2012-13, and while he has an expiring contract, few teams can afford to take his salary on this season without the Raptors taking back a sizable contract themselves, and that's just about the last thing Toronto wants to do.

So while Raptors fans bemoan seeing Calderon—and Andrea Bargnani—on the court night after night, there's little chance of having that tandem broken up until the end of the season, when Calderon can depart as a free agent.