NBA Free Agency 2013: Payroll Situation for All 30 Teams

The NBA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is one of the more convoluted items sports fans will ever have the misfortune of trying to understand. It’s mostly practical and thorough to a fault, but there are a lot of nuances that require team executives to get especially creative with their summer plans.

From cap holds to Bird Rights, mid-level exceptions, luxury tax stipulations and matching contracts, there’s a lot to keep track of when figuring out what your favorite team can do on the free agent market. As a result, there’s never an easy solution to any personnel decision.

But the CBA is a reality of the business. Executives either get creative with their strategy or fall behind the competition. Unfortunately for fans, it’s not always easy to keep up.

Projected cap space is arguably the most important factor when discussion free agent spending, however. Regardless of all the caveats in the CBA, team building starts and ends with that magic number, which is expected to be set at $58.5 million this year based off the league’s basketball-related income.

As ESPN’s Marc Stein and Kevin Pelton noted in this tweet, that projection comes in under the expected figure of $60 million:

All other nuances aside, that’s the figure every general manager will be concerned with first and foremost.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at payrolls for every team entering the 2013 free agency period and highlight a couple teams that will likely have plenty of cap space to work with this summer. 

Team	2013-14 Salary	Team	2013-14 Salary
Atlanta Hawks	$35,504,580	Miami Heat	$85,675,757
Boston Celtics	$68,319,459	Milwaukee Bucks	$31,055,523
Brooklyn Nets	$94,521,565	Minnesota Timberwolves	$39,850,378
Charlotte Bobcats	$40,161,207	New Orleans Pelicans	$44,670,816
Chicago Bulls	$73,104,343	New York Knicks	$71,662,510
Cleveland Cavaliers	$27,483,284	Oklahoma City Thunder	$64,793,678
Dallas Mavericks	$36,007,049	Orlando Magic	$40,378,665
Denver Nuggets	$51,969,529	Philadelphia 76ers	$35,429,258
Detroit Pistons	$34,256,686	Phoenix Suns	$45,970,504
Golden State Warriors	$68,995,902	Portland Trail Blazers	$43,240,658
Houston Rockets	$39,565,022	Sacramento Kings	$41,345,658
Indiana Pacers	$56,636,175	San Antonio Spurs	$41,666,028
Los Angeles Clippers	$43,240,524	Toronto Raptors	$66,173,759
Los Angeles Lakers	$77,381,035	Utah Jazz	$25,327,916
Memphis Grizzlies	$60,770,858	Washington Wizards	$57,065,519

*Team payrolls acquired from HoopsWorld.com.

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks are in line to make a major splash on the free agent market this summer, but that financial flexibility will come at a price.

Atlanta is projected at least $20 million in cap space based off its 2013-14 salary, and it wouldn’t be a surprise for General Manager Danny Ferry to free up at least a sizable chunk of that to work with in an attempt to land a couple stars like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard this summer.

As the team’s official Twitter account noted, Ferry is using Atlanta’s financial flexibility to rebuild, and given the landscape of free agency this year, that’s not a bad choice:

Sam Amick of USA Today reported that the Hawks will meet with Howard on Monday as one of the center’s first visits of the free agent period:

Atlanta is in good position to land D12 should it be able to entice him with another major offseason signing. As one of few teams with the cap space to sign him outright, Atlanta won’t be forced to work out a sign-and-trade with the Los Angeles Lakers to acquire him.

Given the Lakers’ massive payroll, they won’t have the financial flexibility to take much salary back in return. Unfortunately for General Manager Mitch Kupchak, any trade involving Howard will bring back a sizable amount of salary—something Los Angeles can’t afford given their current luxury tax situation ($77,381,035 committed salary).

Howard, of course, is just one of many big-name free agents this summer, but he’s also the biggest fish in a very deep pond. Even if the Hawks fail to land him in July, they have plenty of cap space to pursue other free agents in response to the potential departure of Josh Smith, Devin Harris and Kyle Korver (among others), all slated to hit free agency after July 1.

 

Detroit Pistons

Like Atlanta, Detroit probably won’t have the full projected amount to work with this summer, but it will have plenty of financial flexibility to sign at least one top-tier free agent.

The Pistons have a solid core in place consisting of Brandon Knight, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, but they need a couple perimeter scorers to really solidify a team that looks to be on the rise. To do so, General Manager Joe Dumars will have to make a splash in free agency.

With as much upwards of $20 million to work with, Dumars will be able to target a couple big names if he so chooses—including former Denver Nuggets swingman Andre Iguodala, as noted by Sam Amico of Fox Sports:

Granted, Detroit isn’t likely to have the full amount to use, but Dumars knows exactly what he will have available when free agency starts. As it stands, he’ll have enough to make a major impact with a couple big signings if he chooses to go that route.