It is no secret that NBA players make good money doing what they love the most. And every one of them has a clear indication of how much his rival or a person sharing the locker room makes at any given moment. However, there was a time when the entire Cleveland Cavaliers locker room believed that one of their teammates was secretly a billionaire. Yes, with a B.
Jose Calderon agreed to join the Cavaliers on a one-year, veteran minimum deal back in 2017, serving as a backup to Kyrie Irving . He was a 12-year veteran at the time, and his on-court production was modest, to say the least. However, what really sparked curiosity among his Cavs teammates had nothing to do with basketball. It all started with one simple "Jose Calderon" Google search that could take you in a completely different direction, one that might make you think Calderon was a filthy rich man who played basketball purely for the love of the game.
Very quickly, that strange coincidence became a funny reality inside the locker room of the defending 2016 NBA champions. Channing Frye , always one to keep the mood light, planted the seed by joking that Calderon was, in fact, a billionaire. And while it sounded absurd, there was just enough truth buried in the internet search results to make it believable.
As it turns out, Jose and Francisco Jose Calderon Rojas are brothers who are actual billionaires, with a combined net worth north of $2.2 billion back in 2018. They inherited their fortune from their father, who co-founded FEMSA, a Coca-Cola bottler and convenience store giant.
However, the thing is, they are Mexican businessmen, not Spanish, like Jose Calderon, the basketball player. However, that small, but very important detail didn't stop the 2016 NBA Champs locker room from stopping with the jokes.
"Everybody was talking about that," Cavs rookie Cedi Osman said at the time. "Everybody. EVERYBODY. He makes a play, and it's like, 'Nice job, man… $2.2 billion… that's great.'"
Over time, some players leaned into it so hard that it became genuinely unclear whether they were joking anymore or had actually convinced themselves that Calderon was living a double life.
The joke eventually reached its peak when even LeBron James joined in. According to man many consider the greatest player of all time, the Cavs once made Calderon pay for an entire team dinner, strictly because, well, billionaires can afford it.
"It's an ongoing joke with our team. We don't know if it's a joke or not, though," James told ESPN with a sly smile. "Channing made him pay for a dinner. The check came, and he said, 'Give it to the billionaire.' So, yeah. We know about it."
At that point, Calderon did everything he could to defend himself from the accusations, but it was already too late. Once Google said something remotely connected to his name, the locker room had made up its mind.
"I don't have family in Mexico," Calderon said. "Nothing. I'm just from Spain. It's a totally different guy. But the weird part is like, everything else [in the Google search] is true. It's got my wife's name. I got three boys. I've played here and there. So, everything they talk about is true, but the wealth? No. No. Not true."
Jose, the 6-foot-3 point guard, ended up playing just one season with the Cavaliers before retiring at the end of the campaign. To this day, there's a very real chance that at least one former Cav still believes Calderon was a billionaire who just happened to play a little bit of basketball on the side.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
