To this point I would also hope that teams are more "aware" of cap space implications and would be willing to give up an expensive expiring contract more easily if it were to free more cap space immediately.
For ex. lets say that the Celtics would like to trade david lee for joe johnson, and let say for the sake of this discussion that the difference in between the two is 10 million in favor of the nets, however JJ is valued as a 4 star player while Lee is valued at 3 stars and their overalls are the same. The nets should accept this trade on the grounds that they will be able to free up more space immediately.
Lets roll over into another scenario and lets say that Team X has a player on a 3 year 30 million dollar deal and tries to trade for an expiring contract (1 year deal) thats worth about 10 million. Providing that the overalls are within a certain range, the team recieving the 3x30 million player should be required by the recieving team to fork over more assets (draft picks, etc. )
Scenario 3.
A team with a ton of cap space wants to trade for a guy like joe johnson, they should be able to acquire him for as little as a 2nd rounder.
I say all of this to say that expiring contracts, and cap space in general should be seen as something important and valued to different teams in different ways.
Also, in regards to the "salary cap inflation rate", I hope that the game will adjust future contracts in regards to inflation.
For ex. a team with 100 million dollars in cap space in a year in which the salary cap is 120 million, shouldnt be able to go out and sign 4 superstars with that money.
As the cap increases, the game should have players ask for more money
A deal that would be worth 20 million dollars under the current salary cap for this season, should cost a team significantly more should the cap rise.