http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

The NBA has warned it's team that after falling about $1 million this year (to 57.7 million), the salary cap could plumment next summer to as low as 50.4 to 53.6 million, putting a damper on the 2010 free agent bonanza (and possibly leading to some early unexpected extensions THIS summer?).

Could this possibly help Portland in it's quest to find an unbalanced trade?  Maybe.  Consider the case of some random team trying to shed salary for the summer of 2010 and assuming they need to be about 17 million under the cap to offer a max deal.  So they have been thinking all along they need to get down to around $40 million in salaries (assuming a 57 million cap number).  But bam, now the cap is predicted to drop 3.5 to 7 million below that level.  All of a sudden, they could see themselves need to shed an extra chunk of change to clear that coveted space.  Could this be an opportunity for Portland to swoop in this summer or before the deadline and grab a player that might otherwise have never been made available?

Who knows, but it seems at least plausible, doesn't it?