Welcome to the Can’t Stop Cappin’ Newsletter. My goal is to break down transactions from the NBA with a focus on the Salary Cap. For years now, the CBA has forced teams to manage their payrolls in a way that every signing and trade needs to be made with the Salary Cap in mind. It’s been my life’s work to understand the minutiae of the CBA to unravel complicated transactions and project future moves. Without further ado, let’s get our cap on.
Player Motives
With Beal on his way out of Phoenix (and holding a no-trade clause), the Suns needed to waive him. The no-trade clause meant Beal could essentially pick his next location if Phoenix traded him. Obviously, waiving him would give him the same power. Therefore, if Phoenix and Beal felt there was no benefit to playing out his contract, a buyout was a likely outcome.
"Bradley Beal" by All-Pro Reels is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
It is likely that Beal had a deal in place with the Clippers before his buyout which was likely the reason that the Clippers moved off of Norman Powell in favor of Beal at nearly a fourth of the cost. Additionally, Beal’s player option on the 2026-27 season gives him the option to re-enter free agency next summer where there are projected to be far more teams with cap space. Making the move now gives Phoenix back some money to open up Beal’s options for the next two years. However, the amount he gave back has a procedural reason.
The Mechanism
In all likelihood, this transaction is meant to use the waive and stretch provision to spread the remainder of the money owed to Beal over a longer period of time.1 In this time of year, Between June 30 and August 31, that timeframe is the remainder of the contract length plus one year.2 Since Beal has 2 more years under contract, the sum of his remaining money will be divided by 5 years and spread over that time in equal measure.
However, dead money from stretched contracts cannot exceed 15% of the salary cap.3 With the salary cap for the 2025-26 season set at $154,647,000, 15% would be $23,197,050.
While stretching Beal at his original number would have been $22,158,976, the Suns have already committed $3,107,143 to waive-and-stretch Nassir Little and $706,898 to waive-and-stretch EJ Liddell. This means that the most that Phoenix can stretch on Beal’s contract is $19,383,009. As such, Beal needed to give back exactly $13,879,835. “Lucky” for Phoenix, Beal seems to have agreed to give up that much in a buyout.
The Results
If Phoenix had opted to either waive Beal on his original contract or at this buyout amount without stretching, they would be operating as a team over the 2nd Apron. Through a waive-and-stretch, they are now under the 1st apron and within striking distance of being under the luxury tax.
The Options
Phoenix now has enough space to use the Bi-Annual Exception, $5,134,000, and fill out their final roster spot or go into the season with an open roster spot in an effort to duck the luxury tax. These scenarios also figure in Rasheer Fleming’s salary that came into effect on Thursday (July 31).4
With Jordan Goodwin, whom they claimed off of waivers7, carrying a light guarantee, Phoenix could either keep him on their roster or waive him, carry his small guarantee as dead money, pick a player to convert from a training camp contract to fill a 14th roster spot while keeping their luxury tax bill low enough that they could move out of the tax with a small trade. Alternatively, Phoenix can now take back more than they send out in trade but could run into 1st Apron hard cap issues when filling out their roster.5 If Phoenix has one more big move up their sleeve, it would likely have to be in the new-found ability to aggregate salaries in trade, e.g. Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale.8 Doing so would hard-cap Phoenix at the 2nd Apron if they send out more salary than they take back, leaving them to use the Taxpayer MLE and fill out the rest of their roster on Veteran Minimum contracts.6 Phoenix’s current highest paid players play off-guard as their true position. My projection is that Phoenix will either use their Bi-Annual Exception to sign a point guard or leave the roster spot open and trade out some salary to duck the tax by the end of the year. I would keep my eye on Malcom Brogdon or Gary Payton II if Phoenix chooses to fill their final roster spot.
1 Art. VII Sec. 7(d)(6)(i)
2 Art. VII Sec. 7(d)(6)(i)(B)
3 Art. VII Sec. 7(d)(6)(iii)(A)
4 Art. VII Sec. 4(l)
5 Art. VII Sec. 2(e)(4) & Art. VII Sec. 6(j)(1&3)
6 Art. VII Sec. 6(i)
7 Exhibit A Par. 16(f)(ii)
8 Art. VII Sec.2(e)(4)(H)