The salary cap will be set at $49.5 million, an increase of $5.63 million from last season.

For the first time, teams will know before the season begins what the luxury tax threshold will be -- $61.7 million. Teams with payrolls over that will have to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on the amount of their payroll that exceeds the $61.7 million.

Marc Stein is reporting that the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks are on the verge of completing a sign and trade with restricted free agent, Joe Johnson.

The proposed deal, according to sources, would bring guard Boris Diaw and two lottery-protected future first-round picks to Phoenix -- along with a trade exception in the $5 million range -- after Johnson signs a contract under terms established by Atlanta: $70 million over five years with an estimated balloon payment of $20 million up front.

Johnson has agreed to sign a five-year/seventy million dollar contract with the Hawks.

After maintaining for weeks that it would match any offer sheet Johnson signs, Phoenix chose a new course this weekend, ultimately deciding it was better for team chemistry to pursue a sign-and-trade with Atlanta instead of investing huge sums in a player who wants to leave.

Jason Williams is close to being traded in a three-team deal that would include Miami, according to an NBA source familiar with the Grizzlies' dealings. It is not known where Williams would land in the proposed deal.

Griz president Jerry West already has Williams's replacement in the starting lineup on the radar.

Although Damon Stoudamire is atop the Grizzlies' wish list, West downplayed a Houston Chronicle report that the Griz and Stoudamire have agreed on a four-year, $17 million contract.

"We have interest," West said Saturday. "We're exploring a lot of options, and he's not the only one. We have interest in a lot of people."

A report on Friday indicated that Joe Johnson told the Suns that he doesn't want them to match the offer sheet he signs with the Hawks.

But Johnson also said Friday to Toronto's "The Fan" radio station when asked whether Phoenix was the best scenario for him.

"Probably so, more than likely so," Johnson said before a long, deep breath. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be real tough. Hopefully, everything will work out like we want it."

His posturing may have more to do with ensuring that a five-year offer that may be worth almost $72 million (with $18 million up front) is still on the table Tuesday.

Those close to him said he was upset when Phoenix would not go up $5 million to meet his request for $50 million for six years last summer, when the Suns gave Quentin Richardson a six-year, $43.5 million deal.

He was further unsettled this month when Phoenix offered $60 million for six years and asked him to choose between it and the Atlanta offer at one point. That prompted his request to Sarver, who intends to match the Hawks' offer. He has a week to do so once Johnson signs Atlanta's offer.

"It's a lot of things," Johnson told ESPN.com when asked why he would want to leave Phoenix. "It's the way things were handled last summer, how things have been handled this summer. There's been some things going on that aren't great."

Having missed out on Damon Stoudamire, the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets have been forced to alter their search for a veteran guard for their backcourt.

With Stoudamire having made $12.5 million with the Trail Blazers last season and the Rockets able to offer their salary-cap exemption of only $1.8 million, the teams reportedly were discussing a sign-and-trade deal.

Rockets forwards Clarence Weatherspoon, owed $6.53 million over the final year of his contract, and Juwan Howard, due $26 million over four years, reportedly were dangled as trade bait, but the two clubs failed to reach an agreement, paving the way for Stoudamire to sign with Memphis.

Miami and Cleveland also reportedly were interested. With Stoudamire off the market, the Rockets will alter their search.

Latrell Sprewell, Michael Finley and Gary Payton have been discussed as options.

Steven Hunter, who showed much promise in his one year in Phoenix, is a free agent who is expected to make a decision this weekend about where he will play next year. He has narrowed his choices down to four teams - Dallas, New Jersey, Atlanta and Phoenix.

Hunter hopes to stay in Phoenix but could not get more than a one-year commitment for the minimum exception ($1.7 million) plus an option year from the team.

The 7-foot center is looking for a four or five-year deal and could end up with the Mavericks.

Las Vegas will be the site of the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, marking the first time the event will be held in a non-NBA city.

An official with knowledge of the decision, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed reports in the Las Vegas media that the city has been given the go-ahead to play host to the league's showcase event.

Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had been making a strong push to land the game, and one of the final obstacles was finding a way to convince a few luxury suite holders at the Thomas & Mack Center to relinquish their boxes in exchange for seats elsewhere in the arena.

In a concession to the NBA Players' Association, the deadline for the "amnesty" clause, which will allow teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract, has been moved up to Aug. 15.

Teams such as the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks, who are expected to use the clause -- also known as the Allan Houston Rule -- to waive Michael Finley and Houston to avoid paying future luxury tax on their contracts, will have less than two weeks to make final decisions once the labor deal is implemented Tuesday.

The original deadline was Oct. 1. All 30 NBA teams will now have the right to make one amnesty waiver starting Tuesday at noon ET through Aug. 15. Teams are not required to use this clause and early estimates suggest that less than half of the league's clubs will exercise the option largely because the rule only provides luxury-tax relief, not salary-cap relief.

The Mavericks are trying to trade Finley to keep him out of the Western Conference and to avoid losing him without compensation. If they end up waiving him, a string of playoff contenders, including the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, are expected to pursue Finley.

The union argued that an Oct. 1 deadline gave the teams releasing players too much control over their players' futures. The Aug. 15 deadline is early enough to give Finley, Houston and anyone else released via the clause a chance to compete for free-agent dollars long before training camps open Oct. 3.

Dave Twardzik and Otis Smith, co-assistant general managers of the Orlando Magic, are expected to leave for Spain on Monday morning, hoping for a face-to-face meeting and a possible change of heart with first-round draft pick Fran Vazquez.

The Magic used the No. 11 pick in last month's NBA draft to select Vazquez, a 6-foot-10 power forward. They were confident they could sign him for this season.

Vazquez was equally confident about joining the team when he visited Orlando the day following the draft, which he attended with the other top picks in New York.

Vazquez, though, stunned the Magic and his American agent this week by telling reporters in Spain that he would play at least another season in Europe before joining the NBA. By drafting him, the Magic retain his NBA rights indefinitely.

"Should we have sent someone to live with him following the draft? I don't know," Magic President Bob Vander Weide said Friday. "Right now, we need to build a relationship with this kid, extend an extra hand."

Matt Bonner expects to have a contract offer in hand the day the NBA lifts its free agent-signing moratorium but there is little or no chance it will come from the Raptors.

The restricted free agent and the team remain far apart in the financial terms of a new contract and it's apparent it will take an offer from a third team to put pressure on the Raptors to match it or let the popular, if limited, forward go.

Bonner's agent told the Star last week he had three teams interested in his 25-year-old client and Bonner said last night he thinks he'll get some offer right away.

"There might be more, there's been some interest in the last few days," he said before playing in the Steve Nash Charity Classic at the ACC last night.

Bonner and his agent are dismayed at the pace of talks with the Raptors, which have bogged down over money.

"We're trying to negotiate and it hasn't been reciprocated yet," he said.