Jose Calderon made headlines recently after making over $400,000 for two hours of work with the Golden State Warriors, who released him to sign Matt Barnes. The reason for this is that the Warriors had to respond quickly in the wake of Kevin Durant’s untimely injury.
As an interesting side note to that story, the Warriors actually did make Jose Calderon jerseys (look here), which obviously will never be used.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Calderon is set to clear waivers on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. Once he clears waivers, another team on the hunt for an NBA title is eager to land his services.
The Atlanta Hawks hope to add Jose Calderon to their roster as early as Saturday, according to league sources.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 3, 2017
The 35-year-old veteran point guard didn’t contribute much during his limited minutes playing with the Los Angeles Lakers this year. A team focused on its youth movement, Los Angeles was playing Calderon just over 12 minutes per game. He averaged 3.3 points, 2.1 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game, showing he still has a well-rounded game and can contribute when on the floor.
Atlanta is currently the No. 5 seed in the east with a record 34-26, 1.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors and 3.5 games ahead of the Chicago Bulls. Calderon is playoff-eligible this season, per Stein, so if he lands in Atlanta it stands to reason he’ll be a valuable addition to the team’s bench.