How the NBA’s stretch provision works is that a team can stretch out the remainder of a player’s contract to twice the length of their current contract, plus one additional season. So in Knight’s case, as he has two years remaining, the Phoenix Suns could stretch it out past his original two remaining seasons, plus an additional three – through the 2022-23 season.
The contract is spread out evenly throughout the stretch years without it growing or decreasing like many signed contracts do.
Knight is owed $14,631,250 in 2018-19 and $15,643,750 in 2019-20. His contract was originally signed before the cap exploded in 2016, so the percentage his salary costs against the cap is much smaller now than it had been when originally signed. Yet to make any trades this offseason that would bring in a hearty salary, it might behoove the Suns to attempt to move on from Knight – hence the stretch provision.
The stretched amount each season would look something like this:
2018-19 – $6,055,000
2019-20 – $6,055,000
2020-21 – $6,055,000
2021-22 – $6,055,000
2022-23 – $6,055,000
If Knight was waived and his contract stretched before the 2018-19 season, for this season and next, there would be a tremendous drop in salary owed to him right off the bat, a savings of $8,576,250 in 2018-19, and $9,588,750 in 2019-20.
For many fans (and probably even General Manager Ryan McDonough), that is an almost shocking savings for the next two seasons – an amount more than capable to allow Phoenix to acquire a larger contract, or an albatross to further acquire young, star talent with. However, while that looks amazing through the 2019-20 season, the 2019 offseason is when Devin Booker‘s max contract will kick in, the first of the great wealth of recent draft picks who will be able to receive their first big extension, possibly even up to the max, over the next four seasons.
Then for three seasons through 2022-23, Phoenix will be paying a player beyond the original signed expectation, a significant, albeit affordable, self-inflicted impediment.
Booker’s (presumed) max extension will kick in for the 2019-20 season, for which the Suns will have a $9.5+ million savings on their cap if Knight’s contract is stretched out. However, the following season (if either player is still on the roster), both Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss will be up for their extensions, presumably raising their salaries fairly considerably. Bender will have made over $5.8 million in the final year of his rookie contract, whereas Chriss will have made slightly over $4 million.
Of course following the 2020-21 season, Josh Jackson will be eligible for his first contract extension and in the meantime, but in an attempt to acquire additional talent, the Suns could be at a financial disadvantage with over $6 million in dead cap space as these player’s extensions start to kick in.
For curiosities sake, what would happen if he Knight was retained for this season but was waived and his contract stretched before the start of the 2019-20 season. How would that look on the cap?
2019-20 – $5,214,583.33
2020-21 – $5,214,583.33
2021-22 – $5,214,583.33