Getty Image
Earlier this month, a viral photo made the rounds on Twitter claiming that Cavs guard Jose Calderon was a billionaire based off a google search.
https://twitter.com/kirklandontow/status/991209633900630016
Unfortunately, the Cavs guard from Spain was mistaken for Mexican billionaire Jose Calderon Rojas because of an error in the way Google gathers information from certain websites.
Via ESPN
“It’s not,” Calderon said. “I wish. I wish I could say, ‘Yeah, it is true. …’ But, no, no, no. No, it’s not.”
The actual billionaires are brothers named Jose and Francisco Jose Calderon Rojas. They are Mexican. Calderon is Spanish.
“I don’t have family in Mexico,” he 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.”
The fake viral news story actually made it’s way to the Cavs locker room.
Channing Frye, who even by NBA player standards spends an inordinate amount of time on his phone scrolling through social media, came across an unexpected Google search result. Cleveland’s 36-year-old backup point guard was listed as the heir to a $2.2 billion fortune, thanks to his father’s stake in a Coca-Cola bottling company named FEMSA.
It didn’t take long for Frye’s discovery to spread throughout the team. And the Cavs shared the story far better than they were sharing the basketball on the court during their early-season doldrums.
“Everybody was talking about that,” Cavs rookie Cedi Osman said. “Everybody. EVERYBODY. He makes a play and it’s like, ‘Nice job, man … $2.2 billion … that’s great.'”
“I’m like, ‘No. It’s not true.'”
Despite Calderon’s protests, the Cavs aren’t giving up on the idea that he’s loaded.
“It’s an ongoing joke with our team. We don’t know if it’s a joke or not, though,” LeBron 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.”
I still would like to believe that Jose Calderon is a billionaire and he that he comes off the bench to play for the Cavs just for fun.