This week the New York Knicks made two trades to get rid of some hefty contracts and to free up some cash for the 2010 free agent off season bonanza that will be occurring. Earlier in the year the Detroit Pistons moved Antonio McDyess and Chauncey Billups for a very large expiring contract in Allen Iverson that, coupled with Rasheed Wallace coming off the books, creates tons of cap space in the Motor City for next off season and beyond. We've heard an awful lot about that 2010 season with LeBron being the biggest prize, but after reviewing everyone that is available, that off season is really about so much more than just "Will LeBron choose New York or Brooklyn?"

Here's a list big name and potential difference making free agents that either will be available or could be available. I am only listing unrestricted free agent, early termination options, and player options as the restricted free agents just don't seem to move much. By the way, there's a lot more players than these that will be on the market that year:

• LeBron James
• Amare Stoudemire
• Chris Bosh
• Dirk Nowitski
• Joe Johnson
• Ray Allen
• Tony Allen
• Amir Johnson
• Kelenna Azubuike
• Tracy McGrady
• Yao Ming
• T. J. Ford
• Marcus Camby
• Dwayne Wade
• Udonis Haslem
• Richard Jefferson
• Michael Redd
• Tyson Chandler
• Shaquille O'Neal
• Steve Nash
• Raja Bell
• Brad Miller
• Manu Ginobelli
• Matt Harpring
• Roger Mason
• Steve Blake
• Joel Pryzbilla
• Ben Wallace

Also, These players have player options or ETO's for the 2009 offseason but could elect to wait another year, though for many if not all, that is unlikely:

• Mehmet Okur
• Zydrunas Ilgauskas
• Anderson Varejao
• Carlos Boozer
• Kyle Korver
• Jermaine O'Neal

Now some of these guys may not elect to opt out or I could be wrong, and/or missing someone(if so let me know), but that's a fairly extensive list of major NBA talent.

So who could be major players from teams that year:

• Atlanta - 3 players committed for around $20 million
• Cleveland - 4 players committed for around $20 million
• Detroit - 3 players committed for around $15 million
• Golden State - 8 players committed for around $36 million
• Houston - 3 players committed for around $11 million(if Yao opts out otherwise 4 at $29 Million)
• Los Angeles(C) - 4 players committed at around $29 million
• Memphis - 9 players committed at around $40 million
• Miami - 4 players committed at around $14 million(if Wade opts out otherwise 4 at $31 million)
• Minnesota - 6 players committed at around $30 million
• New Jersey - 9 players committed at around $44 million(though if they move Carter as expected for expiring contracts that number is 8 at $28 million)
• New York - 4 players committed at around $23 million
• Oklahoma City - 6 players committed at around $23 million
• Phoenix - 4 players committed at around $20 million(if Amare opts out otherwise 5 at $37 million)
• Portland - 7 players committed at around $25 million( if Pryzbilla opts out otherwise 8 at $32 million)
• Sacramento - 8 players committed at around $37 million
• Utah - 6 players committed at around $36 million

*Note* - I checked these numbers against 3 different sites but some of this summer's free agent signings may have not been there so all numbers are tentative and could be off. Also, remember that none of these numbers take into place slots that would need to be counted against the cap for non-rights waivered players as well as minimum salary holds for player slots totaling 12 players per team. Lastly, remember tht teams will have to add on two and maybe more first round guaranteed salary slots as well that, if they are near the top of the draft could mean a decent amount of space eaten up.

Now several places are forecasting a salary cap at around $64 million for that off season so there could be a lot of money being thrown around that year and the landscape of the NBA as we currently know it could be completely altered that summer. There could be an unprecedented and historic amount of player movement that could instantly turn the "haves" of the league into the "have nots" and vice versa. 

There is already talk of teams like New York and New Jersey, whom most pundits agree are going to be fairly bad teams this year and next, looking to instantly add LeBron and title hopes. Then there are teams like New York and  Detroit who might be looking to add two superstars.  Also, if a team, like Dallas, who is not listed above, were to move large contracts, continuing the example like Josh Howard and Jason Terry, for a large expiring deal, say Ray Allen's, then they would instantly become very large players in all this. Lastly, remember that 2010 is still a very long way away and things could change dramatically from now until then especially with free agents like Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, and others coming on the market this coming summer that could completely eliminate a couple or more of the above listed teams.

It does make for some interesting speculation and set up the Celtics for some very interesting trade ideas next year as Ray Allen's, Shaquile O'Neal's, and some other players' expiring deals may become the most sought after commodities on the market. Rather than players to enhance a team the philosophy looks to be changing where teams will be looking to dump long term deals and pick up expiring contracts for better positioning that summer.