Kevin Garnett and Antawn Jamison will become free agents this summer. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

There are some quality players available this summer for those teams that have money under the NBA’s salary cap and here is one jabroni’s opinion on the top talent available:

1-Kevin Garnett

KG played well in the postseason and showed that he can still bring his A game when needed. For the first couple rounds of the playoffs, he was the NBA’s possible postseason MVP.

2-Gerald Wallace

He has decided to opt out and test the free agent market. Wallace is an excellent defender that can also provide 15 points per game to a team that needs a third or even a fourth option on offense. And he will get paid.

3-Chris Kaman

He might be often injured, but he will be in demand. That’s for sure. When DeAndre Jordan signed a four-year contract worth $12.8 million per season before last season, this assured Kaman will get a very similar deal since he is a better offensive option at center. Kaman would be a very nice fit on a team like the Boston Celtics that need a legit center in the low post.

4-Kris Humphries

Humphries isn’t a top 5 PF, but he averaged just under 14 points per game and 11 rebounds per game. He is a solid option that would be a seamless fit for a lot of teams. If the Indiana Pacers hadn’t signed David West last year he would have been a perfect fit on their team. Some team will be very happy with a very good young player.

5-Goran Dragic

Talk about a player that took advantage of an opportunity. Dragic averaged 18 points and eight assists per game in 28 starts when Kyle Lowry got injured. He is a good ball-handler, passer and a solid outside shooter.

6-Spencer Hawes

A lot like Humphries, he isn’t a top-five center, but he is a top-10 center in the NBA. He reminds me a lot of a younger Brad Miller. He’s a good rebounder and passer, a solid scorer and an improving defender.

7-Ray Allen

He can still shoot and would be a solid fit on the Los Angeles Clippers or Chicago Bulls.

8-Nate Robinson

He probably isn’t a starter for most teams, but he provides a lot of energy and scoring off the bench.

9-Brandon Bass

Bass decided to opt out to test the free agent market after a solid season in Boston where he averaged 12 points and six rebounds.

10-Antawn Jamison

His starting days might be numbered, but he’d be an excellent sixth man on a contending team that needs instant offense on their second unit. You wouldn’t want to bring him in to start because he tends to be a chucker, but a very viable option as a backup.

Others that are available are:

Andre Miller

He is a steady influence as a PG and could play late into his career like Jason Kidd has. His game isn’t built on speed and quickness, but rather intelligence and smart basketball play.

Leandro Barbosa

A solid scoring presence off the bench, but he is slowing down a bit.

Carl Landry

Undersized tweener forward, but he gets the most out of his talent and plays hard. He hustles and provides a lot of energy off the bench.

Darren Jacks is contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Email him at djroxalot@gmail.com.

Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee (right) won his one-on-one matchup with L.A. Lakers All-Star center Andrew Bynum in Game 5 of the Lakers-Nuggets playoff series. (GETTY IMAGES)

Andrew Bynum’s mouth may have cost the Lakers a victory in Game 5. Prior to Los Angeles’ potential close-out game against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers All-Star center said close-out games are “actually kinda easy” because teams “tend to fold in you come out and play hard in the beginning.”

Well, well, well. Guess who used that as bulletin-board material? The Nuggets. As it turned out, it was the Nuggets who came out and played hard in the beginning, taking it to the Lakers in the first quarter to jump out to an early lead and never looked back. Denver’s 102-99 victory Tuesday night in L.A. denied the Lakers – who appeared to have already moved on and had their minds set on Oklahoma City in the next round – an opportunity to close out the series. Now, the Lakers will have to travel back to Denver for a Game 6, and if the Nuggets win at home they’ll force a Game 7.

Rookie forward Kenneth Faried (10 points, nine rebounds) set the tone when he outran the Lakers big men from the outset and then center JaVale McGee finished off the job when he played like a monster in the fourth quarter.

In 32 minutes off the bench, McGee grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds and scored 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including four powerful dunks – two off lobs from guard Andre Miller. After the game McGee said the Nuggets used Bynum’s pregame boast gave the Nuggets extra motivation.

“It just made us play harder than the game before. Everybody on our team was rebounding. It wasn’t just me and Faried,” said the 7-foot McGee, who thoroughly outplayed Bynum.

“Coach put it on the film,” McGee said of Bynum’s quote. “That was the last thing we saw on the film. Andre [Miller] gave an emotional speech and we just went out there and played hard.”

Miller was the other bench player that gave Denver a huge lift, as the veteran point guard led the way with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and dished out eight assists. He also put on some incredible moves that would have made every old YMCA player proud, showing the younger players that there is still plenty of gas left in his 36-year-old tank.

When a reporter asked Bryant if Bynum’s quote bit the Lakers in Game 5, he said: “That’s true. Close-out games can be easy sometimes. But tonight wasn’t one of those nights. I don’t think it made a difference. Did it pump them up? Yeah, probably. Would they have come out and play with that kind of energy? Yeah, probably. We didn’t execute, and they obviously played harder than we did. That’s a lesson to learn. You never want to give anybody bulletin material.”

“We didn’t play with the kind of effort that we should. Our supporting cast has to help out, Pau [Gasol] and Andrew [Bynum] in particular,” said, Bryant, who scored a game-high 43 points and nearly brought the Lakers all the way back with some remarkable 3-point shooting in the fourth quarter. But he missed his last two 3-point shots and the Nuggets hung on for the win.

“It sucks, but it’s not the end of the world,” Bryant said. “Nothing surprises me about this game anymore. I’m disappointed, but there’s nothing you can do about it now.”