ESPN’s Bobby Marks posted his predictions over the NBA off-season in 2019 summer on Tuesday, saying that it will be an “unprecedented NBA summer” when multiple teams may kill for over a dozen of star players.

After 10 days since the opening of the 2018 NBA free-agent market, 36 players have signed contracts of one year or two years but with options for them not exercise the last year. By contrast, only 20 accepted similar deals in July 2017. This came as no surprise considering so many teams have written big cheques for long-year deals before they decided to turn to short contracts to keep their future payrolls more flexible.

Marks said that the NBA salary cap is expected to grow from 101.8 million US dollars to 109 million in 2019 and reach 116 million US dollars by 2020. And by the summer of 2019, 15 teams may have over 20 million dollars for payroll space while at least 200 players will hit the free-agent market. That number means around half of NBA players will be in the pool for general managers to reach out to. By comparison, 120 free agents were at the market in 2018.

For All-Star level players, 2019 summer will see free agents including Klay Thompson, DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins and Kemba Walker. Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jimmy Butler, Marc Gasol, Goran Dragic and Kevin Love will be able to opt out their last-year contracts. Young stars Kristaps Porzingis and Karl Anthony Towns will become restricted free agents.

As for teams, the Los Angeles Lakers will have about 25 million US dollars at their payrolls in 2019 summer, thanks to the one-year contracts they have signed with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee. If Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka manage to get rid of Luol Deng’s contract through trade or buyout, the Lakers will have more money (36 million to 43 million US dollars depending on how they deal with Deng’s Contract) to add another star player to share the burden with LeBron James.

The Philadelphia 76ers will have about 37 million US dollars on their payrolls in 2019 summer. Since they failed to take down King James, the team kept short contracts too. However, the 76ers will not afford to squander because both Ben Simmons and Dario Saric will become restricted free agents in 2020 summer. Philadelphia will need to make a deposit to keep these young talents.

The New York Knicks will have around 26.5 million US dollars for payroll space in 2019 summer, which requires that they don’t give a new, big contract to Kristaps Porzingis, let Enes Kanter and Mario Hezonja go and abandon Lance Thomas. If Porzingis sign a new contract of 158 million US dollars before November, the Knicks will only have 17 million US dollars for space.

Even if New York delays Porzingis’ contract extension, they still can’t offer big contracts to Kyrie Irving or Jimmy Butler, not until they manage to remove Joakim Nohn. Either through buyout or trade, which is unlikely, the Knicks may increase their payroll space to 40 million or 46 million US dollars. However, that will still be insufficient for two big contracts before then send away Courtney Lee or Tim Hardaway Jr.

The New Orleans Pelicans will have about 25 million US dollars for payroll space in 2019 summer. They will also need to make one of the most important decisions in their history because Anthony Davis by then will be able to sign a maximum salary contract of around 235 million  US dollars, which will be the biggest NBA contract ever and also maintain him a Pelican for another six years.

The Dallas Mavericks will have as much as 55 million US dollars at their payrolls in 2019 summer when DeAndre Jordan finishes his one-year contract. The money they can spend will make the team very competitive in the market. And even if they don’t get any star player, Dallas will only have rookie contracts of Dennis Smith Jr. and Luka Doncic by 2020 summer and can focus on building their team with the young back-court combination as the core part.