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2014 NBA Cap Space Revisited
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
The NBA free agency period started on Tuesday and while the league won’t set the salary cap until the moratorium nears an end on July 10, the current projection is $63.2 million.
Initially only two teams are under the cap, the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic.
That list will quickly grow as free agents find new homes — or teams renounce the rights of players they don’t want to keep.
A team like the Miami HEAT may be able to get as far as $55 million under the cap, but the holds of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh nearly eats up $60 million of that space.
Signing at a cheaper rate collectively will open up doors for the Heat.
The following teams could end up with significant cap room: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and HEAT, among others.
Other franchises may look to open up space in trade — like the Houston Rockets and/or Chicago Bulls. The Rockets already have a deal lined up with the New Orleans Pelicans to shed the salary of Omer Asik.
The summer is just getting started. The following is how the numbers fall on day one, a far cry from where they’ll stand over the coming weeks.
