Miami President Pat Riley is a big fan of the symbolic 12:01 a.m. phone call to his teams top targets. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich says he would rather be sleeping at that moment. And more than $1 billion in deals will likely be hammered out in the next couple of days alone.Free agency has returned to the NBA, and this July 1 is unlike any other.Sure, theres the annual list of superstars who could take their talents elsewhere -- Kevin Durant will hear sales pitches designed to talk him into leaving Oklahoma City, Dwyane Wade is prepared to leave Miami if he doesnt get a deal to his liking, and it seems LeBron James will make the Cleveland Cavaliers dig even more deeply into their pockets to reward him for the citys first NBA title.All this comes with a backdrop of an enormous jump in the salary cap, going from $70 million this past season to likely somewhere close to $95 million when the league announces the actual number early next week.So the spending will be out of control. Thats for certain.Just about everything else is uncertain, starting with Durants status.My message to him is just try to get through this, dont make a decision based off anybody else, make your own decision, New York Knicks forward and Durants Olympic teammate Carmelo Anthony said. Because at the end of the day, youre the one that has to live with that.Durant, true to his nature, is tight-lipped about how his decision-making process will actually work.Ill factor in everything thats important to me, which is playing basketball at the end of the day, and well see what happens, Durant said.Durant plans on going to New York -- not to play, but to deliberate. Some teams have been granted invites to meet with Durant in the New York area this weekend, and Miami center Hassan Whiteside is planning to meet with teams there as well on Friday. Theres been no indication how quickly Durant will reveal if hes staying with the Thunder or moving on, but in Whitesides case the answer could come on Day 1.Im not calm. Look at me. Woooo! Whiteside shrieked earlier this week in Miami, when he talked about the looming decision that will take him from someone who made just under $1 million this past season -- pocket change by NBA standards -- to quite probably more than $20 million in each of the next four seasons. Im excited, man. Cmon, man. Free agency time.Whiteside will strike it rich without going to a single All-Star Game first. Bismack Biyombo (who made $2.8 million this season and is expected to at least quintuple that going forward) will probably do the same, and that comes with him not even having been a full-time starter in Toronto.This is the new NBA.And its not changing.The cap will take another giant leap next season, too. Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton stopped playing less than a decade ago; he made about as much in his entire career as Whiteside will likely make in the contract he can sign starting July 7.Payton equates free agency today to a lottery, with a lot of sweepstakes winners.Some of these players, they make decisions because of all of the money, he said. Youre going to get the money. I think you go to a place where youre going to be successful and have a chance to win ... always be in the competition to win a championship.Payton could have made so much more money now, but hes far from upset about it. He even says a player like James should be making about $50 million now, given what hes done and what he means to the league.I got on my mom about that the other day and asked her why she had me so early, Payton said. It is what it is. Its a different era. I was in the best era. I liked my era. We started all this.Because theres never been a market like this, given all the new cap room, it seems like no one really knows what to expect.That includes the Commissioner of the NBA.As Ive said, there will be unintended consequences from all this additional cap room this summer, Adam Silver said at the All-Star Game back in February. I just dont know what those consequences will be.Starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Friday, when the shopping window officially opens, the league will begin finding out.Its not so much about the things you want, Thunder general manager Sam Presti said. Its about the things that are made available to you.---AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report. Soccer Jerseys China . LOUIS -- St. NFL Jerseys Outlet . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. http://www.jerseyswholesale.us/ . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Wholesale China Jerseys . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall waded into the?Odell Beckham Jr.?firestorm Wednesday, fiercely defending Beckham and claiming the New York Giants are playing with fire by speaking out publicly about his behavior.Those guys over there need to be really careful, Marshall said Wednesday. They dont need to be speaking out on their teammate. They need to keep that in-house because they could lose him. Im being honest.They need to rally behind him and give him the support he needs and handle that stuff in-house, whether good or bad, because whether they like it or not: Hes the best player on that team.Marshall, 32, once regarded as a problem child, reached out to Beckham last week after the receivers sideline tantrum against the?Washington Redskins. Beckham had another blowup in Monday nights loss to the Minnesota Vikings.Hes the type of guy that he can play with anger, he can play with rage, Marshall said. Thats not a distraction for him. He doesnt need a sports psychologist for that because hes still going to make that magnificent, one-handed catch.The problem is it may be a distraction for his teammates. There are some things that hes done where guys dont want to answer the same question every single week. As far as him personally needing help, he doesnt need help. Hes still going to produce and be the beast he is.Marshall scoffed at the notion the Giants would be best served by benching Beckham.Thats not good business, he said.Marshall acknowledged that Beckham can channel [his anger] a bit better, but theres a thin line. He has to be himself. Monday night, he was not himself. Thats not good for them, the coach coming out and saying, He needs to do this. No, thats the wrong way. Yourre playing with fire right there.ddddddddddddThe Giants dont want to see Beckham change, either. They still want him to play with the same fire that helped him set the NFL record for most receiving yards in his first two professional seasons.I think he has great passion for the game and a great desire to be one heck of a player, and one thing Id hate to see him lose is that drive and that passion, Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. I like him as a salty, competitive player. That is when he plays at his best. We just need to be productive when were doing it.Beckham has six unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness or taunting penalties in 31 career games. But quarterback Eli Manning remained unconcerned after Monday nights latest infraction for taunting.Well, again, I dont know if he shouldve been called for it. He felt he was hit late. He didnt hit anybody late, Manning said. He seemed to be complaining more to the ref about it than anything. He obviously got called for taunting. I dont know if that was a taunting necessarily.He had one incident last year that I feel is inappropriate with [Josh] Norman, and since that I dont think hes done anything that has been harmful to another player. So I dont think its a big deal.Marshall called Beckham one of the top five players in the NFL, claiming theres a lot of pressure on him.There are two cameras on him every Sunday, Marshall said. Its part of the process. LeBron James went through it, too. This comes with the territory of being a superstar. It comes with it. Hes going to be OK.ESPN Giants reporter Jordan Raanan contributed to this report.? Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '