The NBA Playoffs Payoffs

The NBA Playoffs are a proving ground for increased contracts and a chunk of the upcoming salary cap spike.

With the regular season firmly in the rear-view mirror, certain members of this year’s playoffs collective can now turn their attention toward something more important.

(Hint: it’s not a championship ring, though that holds some importance.)

As of July 1, NBA teams can benefit from the never-before-seen insane spike in salary cap room (currently hovering around $92 million), thanks to the television deal the league signed in 2014.

This is a fortuitous conjunction with a rather star-studded free agent class and teams that desperately need or want some superstardust to sprinkle on their teams, in the hopes of a transformation for the better.

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Some of this year’s postseason performances are just a continuation of regular season excellence. Others are an audition, of sorts, to justify why a team’s front office should continue to throw googobs of money their way, or consider doing so.

Still others are an increased sample size to show why a team should convince a player to switch to new colors or stay put.

Then there are those who are trying to prove that they still belong in elite conversation, or should enter the conversation at all.

There are always the veterans who are seeking one last max payday before Father Time finally drops the hammer for good:

Others may want just an increased token of appreciation for the gas that’s still left in the tank, even as the needle approaches E.

Don’t knock the hustle. There’s nothing like

playoff

payoff basketball.

Dwyane Wade, in particular, has been outstanding this postseason. He has shown why the man once known as “Flash” was made the face of the Miami Heat franchise.

In the absence of Chris Bosh, the aging Wade (with lots of help from Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside) carried the team to the playoffs and put them on his back to force a Game 7 in Miami against the Charlotte Hornets and advancing to the second round.

The Heat succumbed to a more ambitious Toronto Raptors team in another Game 7, but not before Wade gave a friendly reminder that he wasn’t quite done yet.

The Los Angeles Clippers‘ Jamal Crawford just won his third Sixth Man of the Year award.

He helped an injury-depleted Clippers roster put up a feisty, yet ultimately unsuccessful fight against the Portland Trail Blazers by dropping a game-high 32 points in the Game 6 loss during the first round.

Despite being the constant source of trade rumors last season, Crawford is an unrestricted free agent this summer and there are still concerns about whether or not he’ll remain in Los Angeles, despite his contributions during both the regular season and the postseason.

Crawford, like most unrestricted free agents, will probably chase the lucrative rise in the league salary cap. His performance will ensure that he can still command a nice chunk of change, and he may be among those wearing a different uniform this fall.

Since the Clippers are committed to keeping their core trio of Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin together for at least one more year, and they don’t have any other significant assets to speak of, Crawford may have to get his upcoming (larger) paycheck elsewhere.

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The same goes for

of the

Charlotte Hornets

. Having bounced around the league after the waning of “Linsanity” in New York, Lin had a

career resurgence

with the Hornets as a backup point guard.

The Hornets are in a better financial position than the Clippers, with regard to the upcoming retention of their free agents; however, there are still too many free agents and not enough money to go around.

With Nicolas Batum as their priority re-sign (and he’ll probably get a max contract if he stays), it remains to be seen if Lin remains in Buzz City.

His performance this season should net him a lot more than the two-year, $4.3 million deal he signed when he was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, after a disastrous season that saw him underutilized.

Batum is in a similar situation. Still, no one could argue that the Hornets have been anything less than good for both Batum and Lin, among others, and that sticking around makes more sense, even if it’s not as many dollars.

Lin has stated numerous times that he’d love to remain in Charlotte and would even consider taking a pay cut to do so. He was a key cog in the Hornets’ postseason run and provided a much-needed respite for franchise point guard Kemba Walker.

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But given the other free agents on the Hornets roster, Lin may get an offer he can’t refuse and suit up for his fifth NBA team in seven years.

The playoffs are always an intense time, as players who didn’t have the chance (or the desire) to put up serviceable numbers over 82 games have one last chance to prove that they are worthy of the many zeroes that grace a professional player’s direct deposit stub.

Sometimes, the quest for more money takes precedence over what should be the focus: winning a championship.

This paper chase is even more significant with the upcoming salary cap increase. It is safe to say that the makeup of quite a few teams will be very different come October, simply because a team couldn’t afford to keep a player or three.

It’s time like this when good team fiscal management is appreciated, as those teams who have done so are not as panicked when it comes to either retaining key personnel, or acquiring new ones.

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In a profession where the average career lasts five years, money may not buy happiness, but it could rent it for a while–if the price is right.