Over the last few weeks, no team has more aggressively pursued Rudy Gay in trade talks than the Toronto Raptors.
NBA trade rumors: Raptors want third team to take Jose Calderon in Rudy Gay trade
If Memphis won’t take Calderon’s salary, Toronto has to find another team to make the proposed deal work.
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Toronto has reportedly put an offer revolving around promising young big man Ed Davis and veteran PG Jose Calderon on the table, but Memphis wants no part of Calderon's $10 million annual salary.
Straight Outta Vancouver, SB Nation's Grizzlies blog, has a look at what life in Memphis without Gay would be like.
As a result, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the deal between the two teams is on hold until a third team willing to take on Calderon’s salary can be found.
Calderon, a 31-year-old PG averaging 11 points and 7 assists a game, has been a crucial part of the Raptors’ turnaround in the last month, beating out Kyle Lowry for the starting job.
However, with so many teams scrambling to get under the league’s harsh new luxury tax penalties, finding a taker for his contract, even though it’s expiring at the end of the season, will be difficult.
Several teams in need of PG play and perimeter depth, including the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks and L.A. Lakers, have been linked with Calderon, but it's still unclear what they would be willing to give up to get him and how any type of three-team deal would work salary-wise.
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