The New York Knicks yesterday made it abundantly clear that they're focused on the future and clearing cap space by sending J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland for players that they plan to waive and a future 2nd round pick. They also waived center Samuel Dalembert. Ken Berger of CBS Sports then wrote that the next player that could be on his way out of New York could be starting Point Guard José Calderon.
New York is set to have plenty of cap space next year with the huge expiring contracts of Amar'e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani coming off the books, so they're not exactly clamoring for more space, but moving Calderon would essentially make it so that New York is only really invested significantly in Carmelo Anthony going forward.
As some Kings fans may remember, Jose Calderon was one of the first Free Agent targets of this front office's tenure, as he even visited Sacramento back in July of 2013. Calderon ended up choosing to go to Dallas for the chance to play with a team that had a better chance of making the playoffs.
At the time the Kings were pursuing Calderon, they were desperate for a pass first Point Guard that could run the offense smoothly. As of now, the Kings aren't as desperate, given that they have Darren Collison locked in for at least three years. Behind Collison however, there hasn't been much consistency. Ray McCallum has showed some promise, but hasn't been able to really own the backup role as of yet, and Ramon Sessions has had the worst year of his career. Calderon would be an upgrade to either of them, even though he is showing some signs of decline, posting a career-worst FG% of .412 as well as a career-low assist rate. Calderon also does nothing to help Sacramento's already porous defense, as he was an abysmal defender even in his prime. One area he would be able to help would be with his shooting, where he's still knocking down 42.5% of his long-range attempts and has a career-rate of 41.2%, which is an exceptional number.
Calderon does have two years and just over $15 million left on his deal though, at the end of which he will be 35 years old. That's a pricey investment for a backup Point Guard who might not prove to be much of an upgrade over the current options. It might be worth it if the Knicks were willing to include youth or picks to compensate Sacramento, but the youth the Knicks do have isn't anything special aside from possibly Tim Hardaway, Jr., and the Knicks don't seem to be in a hurry to deal him, especially after making him the starter in the wake of their recent Shumpert-Smith trade.
Sacramento definitely needs to find a way to upgrade their bench and bring in personnel that fit the style of basketball they want to play, but there are probably cheaper and better alternatives to Calderon available.