Report: Cavs Interested in Jose Calderon, Andrew Bogut

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested in adding veteran point guard Jose Calderon of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut.

“Los Angeles Lakers guard Jose Calderon and Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut, league sources tell ESPN.com, have emerged as two players who greatly interest the Cavs in their search for bench help,” Stein writes.

Yet this is where we have to point out that merely monitoring, as they say in those commercials, isn’t the same as fixing the problem. Actually finding a way to acquire even one of those three intriguing potential contributors is another matter entirely.

The Cavs know trading for Calderon, Bogut or Williams is highly unlikely given Cleveland’s various salary-cap and asset limitations. The best they can realistically hope for is that one or more of those three gets bought out after the trade deadline and eventually hits the free-agent market.

Another pesky complication: Neither Bogut nor Williams, according to the latest signals emanating from Big D, is said to be particularly interested in a buyout if they’re still with the Mavericks after the Feb. 23 buzzer for trades.

It sounds like this is more of wishful thinking on the part of the Cavs, but perhaps Calderon (35) would be eager to make a run for his first championship of his eight season career.

Bogut was “disappointed” with the way Golden State rewarded him after helping the Warriors win a championship in 2015 and make back-to-back Finals appearances, so that could be motivation for him to be willing to come to the Cavs if he was bought out.

For what it’s worth Bogut said he “understood” the decision to get rid of him in the process of acquiring Kevin Durant, but one can’t help but imagine beating the Warriors head-to-head in the Finals would be a sweet form of revenge.

The Cavs’ luxury tax situation will continue to be an obstacle for the team to overcome, but if players value the chance at a championship more than getting the highest possible salary, there’s an opportunity for Cleveland to acquire some valuable veterans at a discount.

We will continue to update this story as more details emerge.