Since it became a topic of discussion in the last thread, here's a look at the Wizards' salary-cap situation for next year. There's obviously a lot of caveats because of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, but while working on a feature on a similar topic for SBNation.com, I decided to clarify a few things with regards for the Wizards. Data is from HoopsHype and Sham Sports.
CONTRACTS SET IN STONE FOR NEXT YEAR, BARRING A TRADE
1. Rashard Lewis: $22.15 million*
2. Andray Blatche: $6.44 million
3. John Wall: $5.53 million
4. JaVale McGee: $2.46 million**
5. Kevin Seraphin: $1.68 million
6. Trevor Booker: $1.29 million
7. Jordan Crawford: $1.12 million
TOTAL: $40.67 million
QUALIFYING OFFERS (for more on how these work, click here)
8. Nick Young: $3.66 million
9. Othyus Jeffers: $1.06 million
10. Hamady Ndiaye: $963,872
11. Larry Owens: $963,872
TOTAL: $6.64 million
TOTAL TO DATE: $47.31 million
ROOKIES
12. Jan Vesely: $2.63 million***
13. Chris Singleton: $1.28 million***
14. Shelvin Mack: $473,604****
TOTAL: $4.38 million
TOTAL WASHINGTON WIZARDS' SALARY COMMITTED: $51.69 million for 14 players*****
It's not quite clear what the cap will look like under a new CBA. Last year, the cap level was $58.044 million. There's been talk of a "flex" cap of $62 million, which is really just a high hard cap. Regardless, we don't really know.
So will the Wizards have cap room? A lot depends on the free agents with the qualifying offers. I suspect Young will be back with the team with a higher first-year salary level than his qualifying offer. The other three are trickier to tell -- the Wizards could always rescind the qualifying offer (normally, the deadline is July 23, but this isn't a normal year). If I had to guess, I figure Ndiaye will be back, Owens will not and Jeffers is a wild card.
I doubt the Wizards will be all that active in free agency anyway, but there does appear to be a bit of room in case they want to add a cheap big man like Nazr Mohammad (UPDATE: nevermind), or Aaron Gray, another shooter (I like Reggie Williams of Golden State) or possibly a veteran backup point guard (maybe Earl Watson or Anthony Carter).
*: Could be eliminated from cap with a clause like the 2005 Allan Houston rule, though it would mean the team couldn't take advantage of his partially-guaranteed deal in 2012/13.
**: Up for an early contract extension, at least under the terms of the current CBA that will likely go away.
***This uses the rookie scale projection here, which could be a bit off under a new CBA
****This was the salary of Armon Johnson, last year's No. 34 pick. It also could be a bit off.
*****: Reminder: this is just a rough projection. The new CBA could alter that number slightly.