How a waive and stretch of Tyler Johnson could look

Tyler Johnson has officially picked up his player option with the Phoenix Suns. Should James Jones want to waive and stretch, this is how it would look.

The Phoenix Suns might be targeting a big time free agent point guard in trade or free agency this July, but to do so they will need to clear a large chunk of cap space.

The first move in the process was the trade of T.J. Warren with the 32nd overall pick to the Indiana Pacers (although they later picked up Aron Baynes in a subsequent deal which nullified some of those gains, for now).

The next step will likely be having to be giving away Josh Jackson in a similar trade to Warren’s.

However, the third and most important move will be to rid themselves of Tyler Johnson‘s $19,245,370 million salary for this coming season as he has now opted into the final year of his deal.

Should they be able to find a taker for the contract, again, similar to their cash dump of Warren, then Phoenix will be sitting pretty with nearly $40 million in cap space, more than enough to acquire a max player.

If that does happen, my gut feeling has long been that the New York Knicks – who are at about $60 million under the cap – could be Tyler’s final destination this offseason if the New York wiffd on superstar free agents and are forced to fill their roster in more creative ways.

To them more than anybody, Johnson’s $19 million will help the team meet their salary requirements, while also providing instant cap relief at the end of the upcoming season when his $19 million comes off the books, potentially providing them with a second consecutive summer of superstar chasing.

However, let’s say that a salary dump-off does not come to fruition and James Jones needs to clear as much money off of the cap as possible anyway (potentially in a pursuit of D’Angelo Russell). Jones holds another option in his pocket:

The Waive and Stretch Provision.

According to Larry Coon’s NBA Salary Cap explanation, the provision works as follows:

"If the player is waived from July 1 to August 31, then his remaining salary is paid over twice the number of years remaining on his contract, plus one."

July 1, of course being the start of the league year and when the contract will officially kick in, is the first day that Phoenix can waive Johnson, then spread the payment of this coming season’s salary over the next three seasons.

Should they do this, the Suns would be paying Johnson $6,415,123.33 in 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22.

On the downside, this means that Phoenix will automatically have approx. $6.4 million of dead cap each year, a disadvantage that could hinder some attempts at improving the roster for the time being.

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The advantage though is that this offseason, should Jones target a certain player and reach an agreement to sign him, if the GM cannot take a taker for Johnson’s contract, the stretch provision will buy the Suns about $12,830,246.67 in instant cap relief, which when added to the approx. $21 million they should have if they can also find a taker in Josh Jackson, will bring them to about $33 million under the cap and giving Jones the money needed to complete a max signing.

Obviously, if the Suns can not find a taker of Johnson’s entire contract in a cash swap, but can find a player swap at no more than about the $6 million that would have been dead cap anyway (preferably on a one-year deal himself) that would at least save the Suns the dead cap money over the next two seasons while providing an asset that can either help off of the bench, or eventually become a trade piece as well.

It should be noted too that, presuming Deandre Ayton reaches the potential we all hope that will eventually require offering him a max extension at the end of his rookie contract ala Devin Booker, Johnson’s stretched contract dead cap money would come off the books during Ayton’s final season of his rookie deal and not hinder Phoenix’s ability to extend him.

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Waiving and stretching Tyler Johnson would not be ideal although if it becomes a necessity, it does not have to happen until sometime in July buying James Jones time. However, if the Phoenix Suns are able to target a key player (or players) and need the cap space, the instant savings of about $13 million is something that will likely be considered.

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