We could use the "Stretch Provision" to lessen the cap hit, like we did with Beasley.
If we waive him before August 31st we could stretch the remainder of his deal out over 7 years. He's owed $43.90 million over the next 3 years, stretch that out twice as long plus 1 extra year and it would count against the cap for the next 7 years at $6.27 million per year. That would free up about $7.35 million this offseason. The last year he'd count on our cap would be 2023-24. That's a long time but a manageable amount annually.
I'm not sure if we could stretch a player a year after he was waived, like if we waived him this offseason, ate his whole salary this year but decided to stretch the remaining 2 years next offseason to free up more cap space. If we wanted to do that, we could just wait until after September 1st though and let his cap hit of $13.62 count this season. The remaining amount would be stretched over the next 5 years, so he'd be on the books for 6 years in total instead of 7 but we'd get no cap relief this season. He's due a combined total of $30.275 for 2018-19 & 2019-20. Stretched over 5 seasons it would be a cap hit of $6.05 million a year. The final year that would count against the cap would be 2022-23.
I seem to recall only being on the hook for the buyout amount with Beasley when we stretched his remaining contract out but I could be wrong. I think his deal had incentives though and wasn't fully guaranteed which is what I could be thinking of. I got the contract info from
HERE and the info on the stretch provision from the
CBA FAQ, questions 65 & 66. I think we might be able to get some minor relief against the cap if he signs elsewhere though, whatever he signs for could be removed from the cap hold. I'm not 100% sure on that part, will have to read up on Buy Outs more.
