José Calderón says the Cavaliers’ patience with Khalifa Diop was always part of the plan.
The newly promoted assistant general manager, who was in Cleveland’s front office when the team drafted Diop 39th overall in 2022, recently walked Andscape’s Branson Wright through why the organization kept the center in Spain instead of bringing him over right away. The short version: the Cavaliers wanted him to keep growing, and they didn’t have a clean path for him on the roster.
Calderón, who was elevated to assistant general manager on Sept. 18 along with Brendon Yu, said the decision was tied to both development and opportunity. The same team announcement also promoted Brandon Weems to general manager and Jon Nichols to associate general manager. Yu had been running the Cleveland Charge as general manager from 2019 to 2023.
Calderón first rejoined the organization in January 2022 as a special advisor to the front office, five months before the draft. The Cavaliers also credited him in a release for his work on the team’s 2026 training camp at The Embassy in Andalusia, Spain.
His perspective on Diop comes from experience. Calderón left Spain at 13 to begin his own career, while Diop left Senegal for Spain at 14.
"Leaving home at a young age isn't easy," Calderón said. "I guess it makes you mature a little bit faster."
The 44-year-old spent 14 seasons in the NBA with Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, New York, the Lakers, Atlanta, and Cleveland. He was with the Raptors from 2005 to 2013, then played 57 games for the Cavaliers in 2017-18, the season that ended in the NBA Finals. After retiring in 2019, he worked for the National Basketball Players Association as a special assistant to then-executive director Michele Roberts.
When Cleveland took Diop in the second round, the big man was 20 and playing for Gran Canaria. Calderón said the team saw a defender who was already ahead of his offense, but still had room to sharpen that side of the floor.
"His defense was always a little bit ahead of his offense at that time," Calderón explained. "We liked his athleticism. He was getting better offensively as well."
Diop had spent the 2021-22 season with Gran Canaria’s senior team and had already won the EuroCup’s Rising Star award before the draft. Cleveland chose not to bring him over then, and Calderón said the move was about letting him continue to develop in place.
"For us, we probably didn't have any roster spots," Calderón said. "It was more about him staying there and continuing to develop."
That route kept Diop overseas for four years. He averaged 7.9 points and 5.0 rebounds for Gran Canaria in 2022-23 and helped the club win the EuroCup. After that, he spent three seasons with Baskonia, which competes in Spain’s Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, and was part of the team’s 2026 Copa del Rey title.
Now Cleveland has finally brought him in. The Cavaliers signed Diop to a four-year, $9.26 million contract on Sept. 2, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
He is 24, has yet to make his NBA debut, and was sidelined by a left knee injury during the preseason. According to FanDuel Sports Network Ohio’s Serena Winters, he was away from the team while tending to the injury before Cleveland’s Oct. 13 exhibition against Orlando.
Calderón still believes there’s more coming.
"He's gotten better," Calderón said. "Hopefully, we'll see another step or two ahead of him. The best part is that he's still a young guy."
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