With the Free Agent market about to open, many franchises are busy examining their options to either improve their team or address financial issues over the summer. Due to the struggling economy it seems like the NBA salary cap and luxury cap threshold is going to be lower than last year. Moreover, season ticket sales are stagnant and other basketball related revenue is decreasing. Therefore, many franchises around the league are facing severe monetary constraints in the process of re-signing their current players and picking up free agents on the market.

Taking the aforementioned issues into consideration one can only conclude that this summer is not a desirable moment to become a free agent. Most players who obtain free agent status will not be able to earn as much as in the past since too many teams are busy trimming their payroll to avoid paying luxury tax. Furthermore, some of those franchises which would be able to spend money are targeting next year’s free-agent class which will feature players such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudamire and Chris Bosh. In contrast, the few teams who have some cap space this off-season are expected to be in an excellent position to acquire decent players without spending a fortune. For instance, players such as Shawn Marion, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Paul Millsap, Jason Kidd and Hedo Turkoglu are all going to be available over the summer. While Allen Iverson may have his shortcoming he will most likely end up being a steal and might only cost slightly more than the Mid-Level Exception. Likewise, Shawn Marion who earned $18 million last season is expected to re-sign in Toronto for roughly $7 million.

Considering that only the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trailblazers, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma Thunder have significant cap space it looks like most topnotch free agents will have very little choice if they want to earn more than the MLE. Additionally, it remains to be seen whether Memphis and Oklahoma have any intention of getting closer to the salary cap which could further eliminate the list of buyers on the market. Another franchise that is projected to be on that list are the Dallas Mavericks and their owner Marc Cuban. Although the Mavericks are already over the cap they have shown very little hesitation to pay luxury tax if the right opportunity presents itself. Similarly, the Mavericks are under a lot of pressure to perform well next season and possibly prevent their franchise cornerstone Dirk Nowitzki from leaving Texas in 2010-11.

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