Because of the structure of the NBA both in terms of playoffs and salary cap, it is a league full of windows.

Most teams have either current or future windows for making the playoffs, winning a championship, or making a big splash in free agency.

One of the most important opportunities in the entire league is the one I call “The Window.” It occurs thanks to the NBA’s soft cap structure coupled with the acquisition of talent, typically through the draft. The Window forms when a team possesses a player whose production outpaces their salary by a particularly large margin.

The Draft provides most of these situations, as the rookie scale underpays rookies that are productive by setting the price level on arbitrary grounds (their draft selection) rather than any market mechanism. As such, there are times when teams know that they will eventually have to pay these players what they are worth and actually know exactly when they will have to do so.

There are two other requirements that must be met for an organization to have The Window:

1.    A usable amount of cap space before the underpaid player is up for an extension. This rules out various teams with great guys on rookie deals who do not have the space to make this kind of move.

2.    Ownership that is willing and able to pay the luxury tax. Having the ability to spend and THEN sign your own guys to what they are worth means that the team almost definitely will be over the tax for some period of time. This likely keeps the Clippers out of The Window unless Donald Sterling sells the team in the very near future.

One other thing to remember is that The Window can be used in a wide variety of ways. While free agency provides the most obvious pathway to using money, doing a trade either using cap space or contracts that expire sooner (ala the Marcus Camby trade) enable these teams to get different and possibly better talent.

The most notable example recently of The Window was in the Pacific Northwest, as the Portland Trailblazers saw the writing on the wall as Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were about to be eligible for extensions and the accompanying pay increases. Another team with a near-term Window is the Oklahoma City Thunder, depending on how the CBA shakes out over the next few months.

The inspiration for this article is the recent trade between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic.

While most notable for trading the two worst contracts in the entire league for each other, the secondary impact will be the creation of The Window for the Wizards as long as new owner Ted Leonsis is willing to pay the tax. By trading Gilbert Arenas for Rashard Lewis, Washington eats a few extra million dollars per season over the next few years, yet gains a major year since the contract of Arenas runs one year longer than that of Lewis.

The year discrepancy coincides with a major financial milestone for the team since John Wall will be eligible for an extension after the 13-14 season. With the only other major contracts on the books belonging to Kirk Hinrich (expiring before then) and Andray Blatche (not that big of a contract), the team should have The Window for at least one off-season.

As discussed previously, Washington can trade on this possibility whenever they want should the right offer come along. The aforementioned Hinrich and Blatche are certainly assets to some teams, as are other players on roster. Furthermore, management can operate with the assumption that they can gain one starting-quality player with that space when the time comes which could prove important when picking prospects in the draft and debating an extension for JaVale McGee down the line.

However, the Wizards should be forewarned that some teams have dug themselves into holes when staring down this kind of de facto deadline. When looking at The Window because of a pending Dwight Howard extension, Orlando negotiated against themselves and put themselves in a financial bind that will take years to trek out of (even longer after the recent trades- nice work Otis!).

Incidentally, that Lewis trade may have given the then-Sonics the assets to be able to use their Window in the near future, years after that sign-and-trade.

Portland’s situation has unraveled a bit differently, though we do not know what management knew concerning Roy’s meniscus's when they made the offer for his extension.

No matter the outcome, Washington has the opportunity to become a meaningful contender with solid young talent, reasonable contracts on the books, more high draft picks, and salary flexibility on the horizon. What comes next is maximizing The Window, because once it shuts, that unique chance is over for quite some time.