Economic Climate Making Rich Teams Richer

Tough economic times seem to be having a very interesting effect on NBA rosters -- the rich teams are getting richer.

Consider:

• The Lakers were able to add Ron Artest to their roster for the mid-level exception -- approximately $5.6 million per year.
• The Celtics will sign Rasheed Wallace to a similar contract.
• The next star to sign for the mid-level might be Shawn Marion; Marion's representative is reportedly talking to the Cavaliers.

Why are players of Wallace, Artest and Marion's caliber signing the sort of contracts that used to go to the likes of Jerome James and Jared Jeffries?

• Very few teams went into this offseason with any cap room. Most of the league is making personnel decisions with an eye towards having max cap room for the 2010 free agent class.
• Most of the league is desperate to avoid the dreaded luxury tax threshhold. That's the motivation leading teams like the Bucks (Charlie Villanueva) and Suns (Shaquille O'Neal, possibly Amar'e Stoudemire) to renounce free agents and make lopsided deals to reduce salary.

So what's the alternative for a player like Wallace? His best option would have been to stay with the Pistons, who could have exceeded the salary cap to re-sign their own free agent. But Detroit is rebuilding around younger players; that wasn't a real option. When the Raptors used up all their available cap room to sign Turkoglu, the only remaining options became "hope for a big-money deal from Portland" (not likely) or "sign a mid-level deal somewhere and try to get a ring."

So far, that sort of thinking has made the Lakers and Celtics stronger teams... and the Cavs could be the next franchise to pick up an important contributor from the bargain bin.

It seems reasonable to expect this climate will prevent restricted free agents from making big dollars as well. It will be awfully hard for guys like double-double machine David Lee or scoring guards Ramon Sessions and Nate Robinson to generate big offers when so few teams seem interested in spending money. That could mean their current teams -- the Knicks for Lee and Robinson, and the Bucks for Sessions -- might be able to re-sign those players at below-market rates.