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On the NBA beat, all we do is look ahead. That's why discussing where the top 2018 free agents will land this summer feels perfectly normal in late February.

This list features the players who'll have the biggest impacts on the teams with which they sign. They're also the guys who'll attract the most coverage this summer. The big names include free agents of all sorts: opt-out candidates, the restricted and, most intriguingly, the unrestricted.

Keep in mind that the destination options are limited. Sure, if you assume all 30 clubs renounce every free agent and clear their cap holds, you get 14 teams with more than the minimum to spend. But once you start factoring in those holds and other obligations, the number of squads with meaningful scratch is smaller.

Way smaller.

"Right now, there are just seven teams expected to have significant cap space next summer," ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and Bobby Marks reported Feb. 5. "Last year, 10 teams had significant space. In 2016, more than 25 teams had at least $10 million in room."

That financial squeeze complicates things and could forcing marquee players to stay put when they'd rather leave, to take shorter deals when they'd prefer longer ones or to even consider opting into the final year of their contracts.

It's going to be a weird summer. Here's how it might play out.

Quick note/prediction: We left out Nikola Jokic, who is absolutely a top free agent but who'll sign a max deal with the Denver Nuggets five seconds after they decline his 2018-19 option and make him a restricted free agent July 1. It's done. There's no intrigue on that one.