On July 1, 2019 (May 29, 2019), the NBA free market opened. At 12:01 noon on July 1, Beijing time, the NBA free agent market in 2014 will officially open. At that time, many superstars including LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony will officially become free agents. 1. What is a salary cap? NBA salary cap exists to limit the spending of each team on players and reduce the strength gap between teams. Starting July 1, the league will negotiate with the players' union. The two sides must reach an agreement within the "July Freeze Period" (this year's "July Freeze Period" is July 1-July 9) to determine the salary cap for the current season. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the salary cap will be automatically determined according to the agreed proportion of TV contracts and basketball-related income. The salary cap for the 2013-14 season is $58.679 million. Currently, the salary cap for the 2014-15 season is expected to be around 63.20 million dollars. 2. Is there a luxury tax if you exceed the salary cap? No, NBA adopt a soft salary cap, allowing teams to use exceptions to sign players if they exceed the salary cap. In the last season, for example, the salary cap was $58.679 million, but the luxury tax line was $71.748 million. The team only needs to pay the luxury tax if the team's total salary exceeds the luxury tax line. 3. Does this mean that teams can pay players as much as they want as long as they are below the salary cap? No. The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that when players who have played 0-6 years in the NBA re-sign, the maximum salary for the first year is 25% of the salary cap, players who have played for 7-9 years are 30%, and players who have played for more than 10 years are 35%. As for the annual increase in salary after that, it depends on what terms are used when the player signs. For example, if a player uses the Bird clause to re-sign with the home team, he can reach a huge five-year contract with an annual salary increase of 7.5%. It is because of this restriction that if Anthony chooses to stay in the Knicks, he can get a contract of up to five years 129 million; if he chooses to join other teams, he can only get a maximum of four years 96 million. 4. Can a player like James who has a lot of endorsement contract income off the court ask for a nominal salary of only $1 a year? No. The collective bargaining agreement not only stipulates the maximum salary that a player can receive, but also makes clear regulations on the base salary of the player. Next season, if you are a free agent who has never NBA experience, your base salary will be $507,336; if you are a player who has been in the league for more than 10 years, the base salary will be $1,448,490. The base salary is positively related to the number of years played in the league. In theory, James, who has played in NBA for 11 years, can sign a base salary contract next season for $1,488,490. 5. Will the team be able to officially sign players starting tomorrow? According to the provisions of the labor agreement, July 1 to June 30 of the following year is a complete "salary year". From July 1, free agents can negotiate and reach agreements with various teams, but formal signings must wait until the end of the "July freeze period", which means that teams and players can't officially sign until July 10 at the soonest. 6. In addition to James, Wade, Bosh and Anthony, what other free agents need to be paid attention to this year? CBS Sports recently gave the 40 most famous free agents of the summer, the specific list is as follows: 1-10: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Kyle Lowry, Eric Bledsoe, Greg Monroe, Lance Stephenson, Chandler Parsons, Dwayne Wade; 11-20: Lore Deng, Gordon Hayward, Machin Gortat, Trevor Ariza, Paul Gasol, Isaiah Thomas, Sean Livingston, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Burris Dior; 21 -30: Ray Allen, Avery Bradley, Sean Marion, Emeka Okafor, Rodney Stuckey, Andre Blanche, Patrick Mills, P.J. Tucker, Josh McRoberts, Nick Young; 31-40: Jordan Hill, Graves Vasquez, C.J. Myers, Steve Blake, Devon Harris, Jared Bayless, Aaron Brooks, Mike Miller, Mike Scott, Alan Anderson.