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NBA free agency cheat sheet: Everything you need to know

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The Summer of Durant

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When the free-agent floodgates open at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday, an unprecedented spending spree will sweep through the NBA. There's more than $1 billion in cap room in the marketplace, and not enough players worthy of the massive contracts that will be handed out.

Here's everything you need to know about the salary cap, luxury tax, trade rules, Bird rights and the rest of the structure behind what will be a chaotic period of player movement:

Salary cap

Thanks to a massive influx of revenue from the league's broadcast and digital rights agreements, the cap explodes from $70 million last season to approximately $94 million for the league year beginning July 1.