NBA Rumors: Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks Have Most Salary Cap Space Before Kawhi Leonard's Decision

Because so many good players were available this summer, NBA teams wasted no time handing out big contracts. Only one star remains unsigned less than three days into free agency, leaving only a handful of organizations with a significant amount of money to spend.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are the only two teams that can still sign a free agent to a max contract. The two teams lead the league with more than $32 million in salary cap space, hoping to use it on Kawhi Leonard.

The Lakers, Clippers and Toronto Raptors are all in the Kawhi Leonard Sweepstakes. Toronto is over the salary cap, but they can give the 2019 NBA Finals MVP a max deal since he played for them last season.

It’s hard to say exactly how much cap space each team has because free-agent signings and trades can’t be made official until July 6. Teams can manipulate the timing of those transactions in order to create more space. Other moves, such as using the stretch position on a player or using the mid-level exception instead of cap space to sign a free agent, can also help a team’s salary cap

We know that the Lakers and the Clippers would find a way to pay the $32.7 million that Leonard will be owned in the first year of his max contract. A few other teams that aren’t in the market for Leonard are around $10 million shy of that number.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Dallas Mavericks could have around $23 million to spend under the salary cap. In addition to re-signing Kristaps Porzingis, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell, the Mavericks have reportedly added Boban Marjanovic.

Dallas should still have enough money to acquire Danny Green, whom they are reportedly pursuing. Green is the best free agent remaining other than Leonard and DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins was once considered a candidate to sign a lucrative, short-term deal. He’s running out of options with teams using up their cap space.

The Atlanta Hawks are one of the few teams that can give Cousins the type of deal he’s been looking for, though the two are an unlikely fit. According to Spotrac, Atlanta could have close to $21 million in cap space.

The New York Knicks started the offseason with more money to spend than anyone. After missing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Knicks signed Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Elfrid Payton, among others.

The Brooklyn Nets used their nearly $70 million in cap space to sign Durant, Irving and DeAndre Jordan.