The 10 Most Anticipated Stories of the 2013 NBA Offseason

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The Spurs just capped off another Finals run, but they have a whole host of questions going into the offseason. Tim Duncan has two years left on his contract, with a player option for the final season and Manu will be a free agent. San Antonio has a nice core of young role players, and it'll be hard to imagine Ginobili with another franchise. Will he retire, given his recent playoff run? Or will he come back for one more year to get the taste out of his mouth and help the Spurs defend their Western crown? 

Out of the eight teams which represented the Western Conference during the 2013 NBA Playoffs, three of them are without a head coach as we speak. In a shocking move, the Nuggets got rid of this past season's Coach of the Year, George Karl, and the Grizzlies parted ways with Lionel Hollins, the first coach to ever get the franchise to the conference finals. And then there's the Clippers opting to not renew the contract of Vinny Del Negro, a move that was reportedly done to get Chris Paul to resign with the team this offseason. 

As for the Eastern Conference, the Nets let go of P.J. Carlesimo and replaced him with Jason Kidd, less than 10 days after he announced his retirement from the NBA. Meanwhile, the often snubbed Brian Shaw (and the skeletons in his closet) remains available, as well as Karl, Hollins and Del Negro. Could a coaching swap of sorts be in the works with Memphis and Denver? Will a team ever give Shaw a shot? Does anyone want Del Negro? Stay tuned, folks. 

Mark Cuban has made it known for months now that he plans to spend big. In January, he declared that the "Bank of Cuban" was open and with tons of cap space available this offseason and next, the Mavs should be able to sign one or two max free agents to team up with Dirk Nowitzki. But who will the Mavs land? With Chris Paul, Josh Smith, and Dwight Howard all available this summer, Cuban is going to go all in to pair another star with Dirk before his title window shuts.

Last week, outgoing NBA Commissioner David Stern made it clear that the NBA will be looking into expanding instant replay and tweaking the flopping rules this offseason. Although the NBA has been progressive in terms of using instant replay, Stern doesn't think it's enough. "We'll be looking at a number of things that make it easier for us to say to our fans what we all know to be true: Our referees want to get everything right," Stern said. Fining players menial sums for flopping hasn't been very effective either—it's been out of control all playoffs. Maybe Stern and Commish-In-Waiting Adam Silver will get serious and start either giving players technicals, fine them more money, suspend them, or all three for flopping via a rule change this summer.

This guy had more hairstyles and surgeries than points last season. Bynum is undoubtedly an incredible talent and one of the last dominating pure centers in the NBA, but those tags come with an asterisk: when healthy. He made $16 million this past season even though he didn't play once for the Sixers and will be expecting a max contract this offseason. Do the Sixers mortgage their future on a provocative player off the court who's never been healthy for an entire NBA season, or do they simply walk away? Given their lack of potential options, they might have to roll the dice and hope for the best in a Bynum-led team. However, they should keep their money and try to build a team instead of paying Sideshow Andrew.

It's being reported that Jay-Z is now an officially licensed NBA agent. While league rules stipulate that NBA franchise owners cannot represent players, it's being speculated that Hov will be able to move ahead and start signing players to Roc Nation Sports even though he hasn't sold his stake in the Brooklyn Nets yet. Apparently, the league is OK with him being an agent so long as he promises to sell his shares in the near future. It's expected that Kevin Durant will be Jay's first signing after KD told his former agent that he plans to sign with Roc Nation Sports, but who else will jump at the opportunity to sign with their idol? If you believe his "Clique" verse, it could be LeBron. "Yeah, I'm talking LeBron, we ball in our family tree."

Given how out of whack the Lakers' salary cap situation is right now, amnestying Kobe Bryant should be a real option for the Lakers. They'd save $80 million in luxury taxes and get his $30.5 million 2013-2014 salary off the books. That's a lot of money and cap space that could go to luring players like Dwight, CP3 and Josh Smith to L.A., while also keeping them in line for a potential LeBron 2014 Sweepstakes. It's not clear whether or not Kobe will recover from his torn Achilles to play at all next season, so why waste a year's worth of cap space on a question mark? The Lakers and the Buss family would really win if they cut Kobe, use that cap space to re-sign Dwight and ink CP3, and then re-sign (with a huge pay-cut) a fully healthy and highly motivated Black Mamba in 2014. It'd be a win-win for everyone—all Kobe has to do is swallow his ego and do what's right for the future of the franchise.

Rumor has it that the two have been texting each other about potentially linking up this summer. Oh my. The Clippers would be the pair's preferred destination, but for that to happen, Howard would have to be dealt to the Clippers in a sign-and-trade—a deal that the Lakers would want to receive Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe in return. Or, the Lakers could amnesty Kobe and trade Pau Gasol to open up the cap space to sign both Howard and Paul. A lot of parts would have to move in order for the two to join forces, but it's a real possibility, even if it is a slim one. Either way, we'll probably see Howard and Paul remain in LA this summer, but in what colors, we won't know until July.

After an early playoff exit to the Knicks, it looks like the Celtics will be trying to rebuild this offseason. Although a healthy Rajon Rondo might've been able to lead Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce deeper into the playoffs, GM Danny Ainge isn't likely to wait another year to find out, given the C's tight cap situation and the ages of Garnett and Pierce. As it currently stands, the Clippers are pursuing a deal to bring Garnett and Doc Rivers to LA, and Pierce and Rondo will likely be trade chips. We could see a fire sale in Boston this summer as Ainge tries to liquidate everyone and everything for cap freedom, young assets, and draft picks. With one title in the bag, it looks like this chapter of Celtics history is ending.

Since teaming up, Bosh, Wade, and James have won back-to-back titles in three consecutive Finals appearances. But with the new collective bargaining agreement and the salary cap, it's going to be hard to keep building around all three stars. The trio is signed through the 2016 season with player options in the last two years of their contracts, and will be owed just over $60 million each. Chris Bosh looks to be the odd man out and it'll be interesting to see if Pat Riley trades him for a couple pieces. Chris is coming off a disappointing playoff run, the worst of his career, averaging just 12 points and seven boards. However, he did prove his worth in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals with a couple key defensive plays, but he failed to score a point in Game 7.