How the Phoenix Suns could use the Stretch Provision on Brandon Knight

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PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 8: Brandon Knight #11 of the Phoenix Suns throws a ball to fans after the game against the Golden State Warriors on April 8, 2018 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images) /

One of the biggest questions facing the Phoenix Suns this offseason is what to do with Brandon Knight. Waiving and invoking the stretch provision is an option.

The Phoenix Suns have considerable cap space this offseason, especially now that they have let walk Alex Len and Elfrid Payton, but there is the option to create a good deal more by waiving Brandon Knight and stretching his contract out.

This idea came from Dave Burns of Arizona Sports 98.7FM, a topic that he broached on Thursday, June 29, when discussing the Phoenix Suns potentially signing Fred VanVleet as a free agent. The idea intrigued me and I wanted to investigate how it would work and see what the financials might look like surrounding the salary cap.

The short answer is that the Suns could create even more cap space if needed (maybe they want Lonzo Ball but need to take on Luol Deng, but then want to still have additional cap space for other moves like signing VanVleeft or another power forward or backup center). It is probably very difficult to trade Knight (maybe even impossible) and so if Suns General Manager wants to create the cap space to make a significant move, stretching Knight might be his best bet to come up with cash quickly.

A quick note – I am getting all of my information on how the provision works from Larry Coon’s NBA Salary Cap FAQ. I use this for all of my salary cap questions. Sometimes the cap can get incredibly confusing, but Larry Coon explains everything out in incredible detail.

Of course, all of my individual player’s contractual information is drawn from basketball-reference.com, and all of the team salary information is drawn from spotrac.com. These are all great references for salary questions, and in my opinion, a necessity to have bookmarked and readily available, right alongside ESPN’s Trade Machine.

*Note – My research on this post was considerable, but I do not claim to be a salary cap expert. I show the math throughout the post, for the readers to follow along. If I am off in any of my math, I am not off by much so the concept behind the idea is still sound.

**To read specifically about the rules of the stretch provision, read number’s 64 and 65 on Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ.

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