It wouldn't be an especially deep team, but perhaps the Suns would consider such a talented trio at the top to be worth the risk.Ī similar albeit slightly cheaper version of this approach would involve an Ayton-for-Draymond Green swap with the Golden State Warriors. They could then use a portion of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception on a fourth starter-level player in free agency, and build out the bench with minimums from there. That's not a lot, but it's not nothing, either. Throw in Paul's dead cap charge and the Suns would still have around $35 million in salary to play with below the hard cap line. The trio of Durant, Booker and Irving on his max salary would cost Phoenix $130.6 million. They could match even a max salary in a trade with Ayton, Shamet and Payne. Imagine, for instance, that the Suns want to pursue Kyrie Irving. Factoring in the new salary of a sign-and-trade acquisition, remaining below the hard cap would have been impossible.īut drop Paul's cap charge from $30.8 million to $3.2 million and a sign-and-trade suddenly looks more realistic. The foursome of Durant, Booker, Ayton and Paul would have combined to make roughly $147 million next season with Paul on his original salary. That figure is projected to come in at around $170 million next season. Teams that acquire a signed-and-traded player cannot exceed the first apron for any reason. The major restriction that comes with executing one would be the hard cap a sign-and-trade generates. Even if Phoenix wanted to take this route, finding an Ayton trade that didn't involve taking back salary would be extremely difficult.Ī more realistic path to a major free agent addition would probably be a sign-and-trade. In all likelihood, cap space isn't a feasible option here. Does Fred VanVleet really move the needle that much? Does Khris Middleton? After adding such a player, the Suns would be limited to the $7.6 million cap room mid-level exception and minimum salaries to fill out the rest of their roster. That sort of space is probably enough for two high-end starters or one premium addition. Is that enough to gut the entire roster around Durant and Booker? Probably not. If they could move Ayton without taking back any salary in addition to waiving Paul and getting off of Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne, the Suns would be looking at roughly $36 million in space. Even if the Suns dumped everyone else and stretched Paul, the stretched portion of his salary combined with incomplete roster charges would effectively bring the Suns back up to the cap. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton alone will combine to make more than $116 million next season. The projected cap for next season is $134 million. The Suns have no simple path below the salary cap. How exactly they plan to do that is less clear. If the Suns waive Chris Paul, it's because they believe they can better allocate the $27 million waiving him would free up on the basketball court. He's not saving money for the sake of saving money. Mat Ishbia just bought the Suns at a $4 billion valuation. Plenty of other teams would make the same decision. On a fundamental level, waiving Paul is a declaration that Phoenix would prefer to have Paul off of its roster on a $3.2 million cap charge than on it at $30.8 million. Only $15.8 million of that figure is guaranteed, and Phoenix can use the stretch provision to spread those payments over the course of five years so long as they are comfortable with the fact that doing so would prevent them from re-signing Paul at any point during the terms of his original contract. Paul may be an NBA legend, but there simply isn't a team in basketball that can justify paying him that much anymore. He once again struggled to stay on the court in the playoffs. Paul averaged a career-low 13.9 points per game last season. Here's the short answer: the Suns are waiving Chris Paul because he is not worth the $30.8 million that he is owed next season. Why would the Phoenix Suns waive Chris Paul? There's a short answer to that question that we know, and there's a long answer to that question that we don't.
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