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Landing an NBA superstar is never easy.
To do so through free agency, teams must possess the financial wherewithal to add one to their cap sheet while also successfully convincing said star to join them. Far too frequently, the organizations that tick the first box can only do so due to a dearth of incumbent talent, which prevents them from meeting the second criterion. Those set in the latter area often need to engage in salary-cap gymnastics to free up the necessary room—if it's possible at all.
Pulling off trades can be even more difficult.
Both sides must agree to terms, and convincing a squad to part with the best player in a swap always makes for a tough task. But that can happen at any point, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics proved last offseason with their deal centered around Kyrie Irving.
Stars aren't guaranteed to find new homes every offseason, but it sure seems like some will in 2018. Here's looking at you, LeBron James.
If they do, these six teams are positioned best to land them.
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- Point guard: Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier
- Shooting guard: Jaylen Brown, Abdel Nader
- Small forward: Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, Semi Ojeleye
- Power forward: Jayson Tatum, Guerschon Yabusele
- Center: Al Horford, Daniel Theis
The Boston Celtics weren't supposed to be this far ahead of schedule.
A first-round playoff victory over the Milwaukee Bucks? Fine. Toppling the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round? That's understandable, given the opposition's overwhelming youth and inexperience. Pushing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals before finally being eliminated? That's when the C's began to push beyond expectations and into dream-season territory.
Now, they're experiencing one of those good problems.
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier and Al Horford made for a formidable core throughout this year's playoff run, and they're surrounded by plenty of quality supporting pieces. Next year, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving should be healthy enough to join them, which leaves Beantown staring at a supercharged depth chart of players still under contract for 2018-19:
That's before we worry about Marcus Smart's restricted free agency. It doesn't factor in the No. 27 pick of the 2018 NBA draft. And it's already loaded with talent, forming a cohesive starting five stuffed with upside at all positions and still leaving space for some high-quality backups—Morris, Rozier and Theis, especially.
But the Celtics could get greedy.
If they covet Kawhi Leonard or any other star suddenly thrust onto the trade market, they have the requisite pieces to go after him. They don't need both Irving and Rozier, though having both is a pleasant luxury. They can afford to deal one of their talented young wings for an upgrade, not to mention the three future first-round picks in general manager Danny Ainge's war chest.
Boston could well be content to roll with its incumbents while pursuing new contracts for Smart and Aron Baynes. But it has the firepower necessary to make a massive acquisition, too.
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The Chicago Bulls won't be trading for any top-tier players during the 2018 offseason. Until they re-sign Zach LaVine (potentially on a max or near-max deal despite his injury issues), the marquee names on their roster include Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn, Bobby Portis and Denzel Valentine. Good luck parlaying those into any established All-Stars.
But the Bulls do have the cap space necessary to go after some of the biggest and best players on the open market. Chicago has only $61 million on the books for 2018-19, although cap holds on upcoming free agents and draft picks add to this figure when calculating true spending power.
If the Bulls want to make room for a max player, they can easily do so. Even if LaVine gets his highest possible starting salary ($25.25 million, based on the projected salary cap of $101 million), that still leaves the Windy City front office with some financial flexibility.
Renounce all other free agents with cap holds (Noah Vonleh, David Nwaba), get rid of non-guaranteed deals (Sean Kilpatrick, Paul Zipser) and trade Robin Lopez's $14.4 million deal into space, and the Bulls suddenly have room for a player like DeMarcus Cousins. If they can shop some combination of Omer Asik, Cristiano Felicio and Justin Holiday, even better.
Sure, the Bulls would need to engage in some cap gymnastics, but that's all operating under the assumption that they want to land a top-tier free agent such as Cousins while retaining LaVine at a max salary. Though doing so would create a promising starting five comprised of Dunn, LaVine, Holiday, Markkanen and Cousins, that isn't their only option.
If the Bulls let LaVine walk—which is by no means outside the realm of possibility, given his injury history and diminished production in Chicago—offering Boogie that coveted max deal becomes even easier. They'd have to convince him to leave the New Orleans Pelicans and join a team currently mired in a rebuild, though that's perhaps more likely than ever after some of the big man's recent Instagram comments.
Feel free to substitute Clint Capela, DeAndre Jordan or any other reasonable target. The math still works.
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As Marc Stein of the New York Times revealed after the Golden State Warriors clinched their spot in the NBA Finals by eliminating the Houston Rockets, Chris Paul has already begun recruiting one of his closest friends:
"Don't get me wrong: There will still be plenty of talk over the next two weeks about what [LeBron] James will do July 1 and the growing belief that he'll be leaving his home-state [Cleveland] Cavaliers this offseason to join a team better suited to consistently challenge Golden State. Rest assured that the Rockets' understandably devastated Chris Paul—who made a fast exit from Toyota Center late Monday night after being forced to watch the biggest game of his life from the bench because of his hamstring injury—has already begun his recruitment of James to Houston."
However, pairing James with Paul and James Harden won't be an easy task. That's doubly true if the Rockets also want to retain restricted free agent Clint Capela, who might command a max salary now that he's proved himself a sturdy interior defender and dominant pick-and-roll finisher.
According to ESPN.com's Bobby Marks, Houston would have to make a bunch of changes that would leave it with a skeleton crew surrounding the quartet of James, Harden, Paul and Capela. Perhaps that isn't as stacked as the Rockets might prefer, but it still makes for a lineup inundated with stars.
"So, would Houston tear apart a 65-win team for the chance to sign James?" Marks asked before answering his own rhetorical question. "The front office has shown it's not afraid of turning over their roster if there's a better chance to win a championship out there."
But that isn't the point.
We aren't looking at how strong these teams would be, but instead the realistic possibilities of luring different stars into their clutches. And if the Rockets can theoretically make room for James without asking him to accept a discounted salary, they deserve inclusion here.
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Allure is the issue for the Los Angeles Lakers. Money isn't.
The Purple and Gold once carried tremendous cachet in free agency, in large part due to the magnitude of the market and the prestige that came from playing for such a historically successful organization. But that luster has faded away in recent years, as Los Angeles hasn't made the playoffs since the 2012-13 season.
Still, the Lakers' appeal isn't gone. Their revitalization is seemingly only one player away, and they could complete that process in one fell swoop by landing a marquee free agent such as James or Paul George. Plus, the burgeoning presences of up-and-comers such as Julius Randle (if he's re-signed), Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball can't be discounted for stars looking to extend their title windows.
But the real appeal here is L.A.'s financial flexibility, which lets the team either pursue two big-name additions this summer or stagger the acquisitions over the next pair of offseasons. With so many rotation members still operating on rookie-scale contracts and the salaries of Brook Lopez, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Channing Frye and Isaiah Thomas coming off the books, the team is practically swimming in cash.
Right now, the Lakers have only eight players under contract for next season: Luol Deng ($18 million), Ball ($7.5 million), Ingram ($5.8 million), Kuzma ($1.7 million), Tyler Ennis ($1.7 million), Josh Hart ($1.7 million), Ivica Zubac ($1.5 million) and Thomas Bryant ($1.4 million). Ennis and Bryant don't have guaranteed deals until July 5, as if the Lakers needed more flexibility even after factoring in cap holds for upcoming free agents and their picks in the draft (Nos. 25 and 47).
That octet tallies just over $39 million in total salary, even when accounting for one of the league's biggest albatrosses (Deng). No wonder the Lakers have the spending power to go after any target on the open market this summer. They're the overwhelming leader in practical cap space, checking in over $20 million clear of everyone else, per Spotrac.com.
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Ah, the luxuries that stem from having a competitive team led by two top-25 players still on their rookie contracts.
With Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons leading the charge and functioning as two of the NBA's greatest bargains, the Philadelphia 76ers enjoy all sorts of flexibility on the open market.
They can't match the practical cap space of the Los Angeles Lakers. Per Spotrac.com, no one can. But checking in at just over $30.5 million, they trail only the Lake Show and the Chicago Bulls, setting the stage for a reasonable pursuit of any free agent. All they have to do is let JJ Redick walk and try to move non-essential salary—Jerryd Bayless' remaining $8.6 million, for example.
Moving on from Redick may not even be necessary if the veteran sharpshooter is willing to take a massive pay cut or the Sixers are able to move other pieces.
The first target will be obvious. As Jake Fischer wrote for Sports Illustrated, the idea of pairing LeBron James with Philly's youngsters is undeniably appealing:
"A James-Embiid pairing is now plausible once again. And it's unbelievably tantalizing. James and Embiid would probably be the greatest physical pairing we've seen since David Robinson and Tim Duncan tortured the league. Mix in Ben Simmons's unprecedented size at point guard and the 2018-19 Sixers are steamrolling every mortal team in their path. For James to continue his legendary Finals streak, Philadelphia is the obvious best option for his own self interests. Even with Boston's rise, the Eastern Conference presents the path of least resistance to the championship round. Add in Philadelphia's cap room and an eager-to-return J.J. Redick, the Sixers boast optimal financial flexibility to flush out a supporting roster of shooters to complement their triumvirate."
That isn't the Sixers' the only option. From a pure basketball perspective, Paul George might be a better fit alongside Simmons, Embiid and Dario Saric, even though he isn't on the same level as James in a vacuum.
With Markelle Fultz and the Nos. 10, 26, 38, 39, 56 and 60 picks in the 2018 NBA draft at their disposal, the Sixers also could put together a convincing package for Kawhi Leonard if the San Antonio Spurs make their star forward available.
The sky is the limit for this franchise, and its summertime options are seemingly boundless.
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The Phoenix Suns probably won't clear enough cap space to make runs at this summer's leading free agents. It's unlikely they'd tempt other organizations into parting with stars still under contract by trading away any of their incumbent players other than Devin Booker, who should be untouchable for all intents and purposes.
And yet, the Suns still qualify here. It's all thanks to the draft.
We aren't talking about Phoenix's ability to land either Deandre Ayton or Luka Doncic with the No. 1 pick on June 21. That would be cheating, since we're only concerned with franchises that could experience an influx of talent through trades or free agency.
But who says you can't trade the top selection?
Granted, this is unlikely. General manager Ryan McDonough told reporters there's an "overwhelming likelihood" that the Suns will keep the pick and use it to add a top-tier rookie. But trades are still possible if the right packages emerge, and you never know what can come to pass during the NBA offseason.
What if the Spurs shop Leonard? What if the Minnesota Timberwolves and Karl-Anthony Towns are destined for a breakup? What if another star pulls a Kyrie Irving and unexpectedly demands an exit from his current team?
Phoenix would be foolish to rule out these possibilities. As such, we'd be foolish to omit the desert-dwellers, even if their situation here is far more cut and dry than the other five.
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats courtesy of Basketball Reference, NBA.com, NBA Math or ESPN.com and accurate heading into Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
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