The bad news: Your team isn't getting Kevin Durant, who announced Monday that he's heading to the Golden State Warriors. Now what?
Let's take a look at Plan B for the teams that had been hoping to land Durant after meeting with him over the weekend.
We've addressed the next moves for the Thunder in a separate column.
A fifth team, the L.A. Clippers, had already learned Saturday that it was out of the Durant hunt and responded by agreeing to new contracts for free agents Jamal Crawford, Wesley Johnson and Austin Rivers.
Boston Celtics
Cheer up, Celtics fans. While you might not be signing Durant, your team already is adding former Atlanta Hawks big man Al Horford, the best free agent Boston has signed away from another team in the salary-cap era.
Missing on Durant means there's no reason to waive or trade center Amir Johnson and forward Jonas Jerebko, whose non-guaranteed contracts would have allowed the Celtics to clear the space necessary to sign him. At $12 million and $5 million, respectively, Johnson and Jerebko look like bargains compared to this summer's signings.
More importantly, having Johnson and Jerebko on one-year deals gives Boston a shot at creating enough space for a max free agent again next summer, when they could pursue stars like Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook ... and possibly even Durant again (who has a player option after the first year of his two-year deal with Golden State, according to ESPN's Marc Stein).
Because of that possibility, expect the Celtics to use their remaining cap space -- about $12 million, if they renounce the rights to restricted free agents Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller, who seem superfluous with the addition of Horford to the frontcourt -- to try to sign a wing to a one-year deal. Ideally, Boston would find a player who can fill Evan Turner's role creating offense with the second unit. Lance Stephenson makes a lot of sense for that on a make-good deal.
Miami Heat
In some ways, Durant passing on taking his talents to South Beach actually makes life easier for the Heat. Now Miami knows how much cap space it has available to re-sign shooting guard/franchise icon Dwyane Wade. After maxing out Hassan Whiteside, that figure is $19 million, though the Heat could clear additional space by trading reserve forward Josh McRoberts.
Of course, the Heat still may want to save some cap space to add to the roster after losing forwards Luol Deng and Joe Johnson during the first weekend of free agency. At this point, Miami has just seven players under contract, including Whiteside and guard Briante Weber, whose 2016-17 salary is only partially guaranteed. (Second-year guard Josh Richardson is fully non-guaranteed, but it's unthinkable the Heat would waive the promising Richardson.)
There's also the matter of a looming four-year, $50 million offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets to backup guard Tyler Johnson. Because of Johnson's small $1.2 million cap hold, the decision on whether to match doesn't affect the team's cap outlook much this summer. Because of the backloaded offer sheet, however, bringing back Johnson could have big ramifications down the road.
The last remaining question mark for Miami is the health of All-Star big man Chris Bosh, who did not play after last season's All-Star break. If Bosh is unable to return to the court, his absence could leave the Heat perilously thin in the frontcourt.
San Antonio Spurs
With Tim Duncan's 2016-17 salary on the books after he picked up his player option, along with a cap hold for Manu Ginobili after the free agent announced Sunday that he plans to play another season, the Spurs were the one Durant suitor that's almost certain to stay over the cap now that he's not coming.
In that case, San Antonio's big decision is what to do with its $5.6 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception. The Spurs could use it to match any offer sheet to backup center Boban Marjanovic, a restricted free agent who (like Johnson) is limited in terms of 2016-17 salary by the "Gilbert Arenas provision" of the CBA.
However, San Antonio is reportedly in the hunt for free-agent center Pau Gasol, and it would surely have to use the full midlevel to sign him. Gasol doesn't really fill a need for the Spurs, who could use a more athletic rim protector and a role player at center to complement Duncan (or replace him should he decide to retire). At the same time, it's impossible to turn down getting Gasol at such a bargain rate.
We haven't heard much yet about the future of forward David West, who passed up on more lucrative offers to play for the veteran's minimum last season in San Antonio. When West decided not to pick up his 2016-17 player option, his agent Jeff Austin told the San Antonio Express-News that West hadn't "100 percent even decided to play." If he does come back for a 14th season, West may not want to sacrifice so much financially again, and the most the Spurs can offer if they use their midlevel on Gasol (or Marjanovic) would be their $2.2 million bi-annual exception.