On Jan. 16, the NBA sent teams a memo informing them to expect revised salary cap projections on Jan. 30.
This type of memo usually arrives in the offseason. But the NBA believed the information was more urgent in this case.
Why the unusual timing? Because the 2020 NBA trade deadline is a week away. With the salary cap dropping by $1 million and the luxury tax line dropping by $2 million, the league believed teams deserved to have a better read of the landscape heading into the Feb. 6 deadline.
Here are some of the causes and what it means for teams and players, including some of the league's biggest stars: