Every year, free agency unfolds the same way.
A handful of players get overpaid early. Along the way, some players and their agents want too much, missing their shot at a windfall and ultimately settling for less than they wanted.
For many, the question ultimately will be whether to do a lesser long-term deal or to accept a modest one-year package in the hopes of trying it all again the following season.
This year, like many years, the feeling in league circles is that players are pricing themselves out of the market. Which will make it very hard to put a bucket in the initial stream of flowing cash.
In the end, some players will wish they’d accepted the long-term offers that were on the table before free agency began. Especially if those offers were available last year, before the tax rates in the highest bracket went from 35 percent to 39.6.