'09 - '10 Salary Cap and 2010 Free Agency Scare

The salary cap for the NBA has been established at $57.7 million, nearly $1 million less from '08 - '09. The real story traveling around the league is the estimated drop, $6 - 10 million, from this season's cap to the '10 - '11 salary cap.

The small to medium market teams that have spent the last year or two clearing cap are now faced with an even tougher battle of signing big name free agents in 2010. Overvalued players looking for a big payday will be even more likely to resign with their current team.

The Spurs were already minor players in 2010 prior to the Dick Jefferson trade. If the Spurs would have stayed put and protected their numbers, the dramatic drop in cap would have certainly killed any chance of adding a "big name" or any kind of upgrade to the roster without a major shakeup.

RC, Pop, and Holt's (magnificent bastards) decision to improve this offseason (thank FSM) is looking even better.

Additional note: The luxury tax for '09 - '10 is at $69.92 million. That is almost a $2 million drop from last season.