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With just a month to go before the 2012 NBA trade deadline it’s a time to take a look at the state of the salary cap for all 30 teams.

Below the teams are sorted into three groups: over the tax, between the cap and the tax, and below the cap, from highest cap figure to lowest based on salary information as we know it (check out our NBA Salaries page). The current cap figure is given for this season and next as well as any Traded Player Exceptions and each team name links to their individual salary page. (The number listed here may not match the team salary page total. The salary pages list players’ full salaries, but for players making the minimum for more than two years of service the league reimburses the team, so those players count only $854,389 towards the cap. The numbers below have been adjusted for that.)

A note on Traded Player Exceptions (TPEs): A TPE can be used to acquire a player of equal or lesser value without giving up anything else. They cannot be combined and they cannot be used to sign a free agent. A TPE is created when a team over the cap sends out more salary than it returns, leaving the team over the cap with a TPE for the difference. If a team under the cap does the same thing, no TPE is created. The TPEs expire one year after they are created.

The Tax Teams

The luxury tax figure this season is the same as last year: $70.307 million. Teams over that threshold will pay a dollar-for-dollar tax (the heavier taxes agreed upon in the new collective bargaining agreement don’t kick in until later). Teams in this section COULD make an uneven trade with a team under the cap and get under the tax level. Memphis, just barely into the tax, is a good candidate to make that kind of move.

Los Angeles Lakers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $87.3 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $87.3 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $8.9 million (Lamar Odom)

Boston Celtics
2011-12 Cap Figure: $78.4 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $35.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 2 – $0.5 million (Semih Erden), $0.5 million (Luke Harangody)

Miami HEAT
2011-12 Cap Figure: $76.8 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $78.1 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

San Antonio Spurs
2011-12 Cap Figure: $73.4 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $49.2 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $1.2 million (George Hill)

Dallas Mavericks
2011-12 Cap Figure: $73.1 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $54.2 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 3 – $3.1 million (Corey Brewer), $4.2 million (Tyson Chandler), $2.2 million (Rudy Fernandez)

Memphis Grizzlies
2011-12 Cap Figure: $70.6 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $62.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Over the Cap, Under the Tax Teams

Teams in this section have no cap space to work with (some very little, like Atlanta), but don’t need to worry about the tax. Most of these teams do that by design and will not make a move to jeopardize their tax status. The cap figure is $58.044 million.

Atlanta Hawks
2011-12 Cap Figure: $70.2 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $60.9 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $1.0 million (Jordan Crawford)

Chicago Bulls
2011-12 Cap Figure: $69.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $76.0 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Orlando Magic
2011-12 Cap Figure: $68.5 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $66.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $4.3 million (Brandon Bass)

Philadelphia 76ers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $66.7 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $63.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $2.7 million (Marreese Speights)

Detroit Pistons
2011-12 Cap Figure: $66.6 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $63.4 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Los Angeles Clippers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $66.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $57.7 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 2 – $2.7 million (Al-Farouq Aminu), $3.8 million (Eric Gordon)

Portland Trail Blazers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $64.7 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $41.1 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $1.3 million (Rudy Fernandez)

New Orleans Hornets
2011-12 Cap Figure: $63.9 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $36.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $0.8 million (Marcus Thornton)

Phoenix Suns
2011-12 Cap Figure: $63.3 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $31.8 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

New York Knicks
2011-12 Cap Figure: $61.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $60.3 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Note: Does not include J.R. Smith because his signing is not yet official.

New Jersey Nets
2011-12 Cap Figure: $60.8 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $34.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Milwaukee Bucks
2011-12 Cap Figure: $60.1 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $57.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Oklahoma City Thunder
2011-12 Cap Figure: $59.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $64.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 1 – $1.3 million (Byron Mullens)

Denver Nuggets
2011-12 Cap Figure: $58.2 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $57.0 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 4 – $7.0 million (Raymond Felton), $4.6 million (Carmelo Anthony), $1.7 million (Renaldo Balkman), $0.9 million (Shelden Williams)

Under the Cap Teams

These teams have a bit of wiggle room under the cap, some more (Indiana) than others (Charlotte). One thing to note is that teams must spend 85% of the cap otherwise they must distribute the difference to their players. For this season that amount is $49,337,400, meaning both the Sacramento Kings need to do something to take on salary.  (Note: Indiana does not because they used their Amnesty Waiver on James Posey’s $7.6 million. That amount, though it does not count on their cap for tax purposes, does count towards the 85% spending floor and pushes Indy out of the area where they HAVE to take on salary.) Well, they don’t HAVE to; if they like their roster and don’t want to jeopardize their cap standing for this summer they could simply do nothing and write checks at the end of the year.

Charlotte Bobcats
2011-12 Cap Figure: $57.9 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $43.0 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 2 – $3.5 million (Shaun Livingston), $1.5 million (Gerald Wallace)

Utah Jazz
2011-12 Cap Figure: $57.8 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $52.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: 2 – $10.9 million (Mehmet Okur), $1.8 million (Deron Williams)

Houston Rockets
2011-12 Cap Figure: $57.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $40.8 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Minnesota Timberwolves
2011-12 Cap Figure: $56.8 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $59.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Golden State Warriors
2011-12 Cap Figure: $56.5 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $48.1 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Washington Wizards
2011-12 Cap Figure: $55.9 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $45.6 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Toronto Raptors
2011-12 Cap Figure: $53.7 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $41.9 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Cleveland Cavaliers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $51.2 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $31.5 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Sacramento Kings
2011-12 Cap Figure: $49.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $44.1 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Indiana Pacers
2011-12 Cap Figure: $44.0 million
2012-13 Cap Figure: $36.3 million
Traded Player Exceptions: None

Six tax payers and ten teams under the cap, leaving fourteen in the middle group. That under the cap group is unexpectedly large; most season you may see two or three at this point in the season and almost never do you see teams in the range of Cleveland and Toronto. Sacramento and Indiana are in uncharted territory.

As it sits now 19 teams are set to be under the cap for 2012-13 before the NBA Draft in June. Ten of those teams will have shed over $15 million in expiring contracts to get there. In contrast, only three teams – Miami, Chicago and the L.A. Lakers – currently sit over the tax level for next year.

What does all of that mean? It means free agency 2012 this July could be one of the craziest yet, even more so than the Summer of LeBron in 2010.

What should your team do at the trade deadline? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! Follow Jason Fleming on Twitter @jfleminghoops and hit up his weekly chat Monday at 8pm Eastern.