3 reasons the Phoenix Suns boldly waived Chris Paul.
3. Chris Paul was cut to create space for depth
The most obvious reason for letting Paul leave for nothing is so the Suns can turn the cap space that has now been opened up into two or three rotation players for the team. The importance of this cannot be overstated, as the Suns currently have zero depth and are having to talk themselves into players like Jae Crowder.
But this is not an open and shut case of saving money, as of Paul’s $30.8 million deal for this coming season, the Suns will still have to pay him $15.8 million. Worse still for them, this will count against their cap sheet anyway, which makes waiving a player of his quality a puzzling move.
Halving the money owed to Paul is still something though, and it would allow the Suns to go shopping for a player or two that would have been out of their price range before now. There is another train of thought taking hold however, and that is one where the Suns stretch the $15.8 million owed to him over five years, making the $3 million this season much easier to swallow.
By waiving and stretching him they can spread out the $15 million over 5 years so he would only count $3 million on this years cap but could not play for the Suns under this option. Hope this helps.
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 7, 2023
This is the best case scenario for the organization, and it would allow them to address not only the need for wing depth, but to also replace Paul in some capacity as well. Cam Payne is the team’s only real option at the point guard position currently, and although he has had his moments with the Suns, you are not winning a championship with him running the show.
Stretching Paul means being able to add the wing depth and modestly priced point guard all in one go, a complete retool on the fly for the Suns as they mould their roster around Booker and Durant. As a brief aside, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN has also mentioned Ayton’s name as another to keep an eye on as this Paul story continues to develop.