For a brief moment in time Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jose Calderon was the richest player in the entire NBA. Although Google quickly corrected what was nothing more than a case of mistaken identity on their search output algorithm, the word had already gone out throughout the Association.
In his piece for ESPN, Dave Mcmenamin details how it was actually former Cavs big man Channing Frye that first came across the bizarre piece of information online. According to the Google search, Calderon was an heir to a fortune amounting to $2.2 billion, due in big part to his family’s share in a huge corporation called FEMSA.
It turns out the true billionaires are brothers Jose and Francisco Jose Calderon Rojas who are both Mexican nationals.
Nonetheless, this became not only a running joke among Calderon’s teammates, but also a widespread rumor across the NBA. It was the 37-year-old Spaniard himself who narrated a hilarious situation in which a couple of New York Knicks players really thought Calderon was a billionaire.
“We played the Knicks, and I’m walking on the court, and Courtney Lee goes to Jarrett Jack and says, ‘Hey! J.J.! Ask him! You got to ask him!'” said Calderon. “I’m like, ‘What’s going on, J.J.?’ “He’s like, ‘It’s true. Everybody’s been talking. It’s true. The $2.2 billion. It’s true.’ “I’m like, ‘No. It’s not true.'”
Even LeBron James himself refused to quell the tall tale.
“It’s an ongoing joke with our team. We don’t know if it’s a joke or not, though,” said The King.
The joke was definitely good for a few laughs for the Cavs. However, their mood will be far less jovial come Saturday night as they attempt to overturn a 0-2 deficit against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
