What can teams do when they have a financial crisis at hand? Well, the Suns just showed us one way to deal with it. Way past the second apron limit with a $219 million payroll, the Phoenix side had very limited options to upgrade their roster. However, in a genius move, they’ve waived forward Nassir Little to open up a roster spot and $3.65 million in cap space. But it was no ordinary waiver, as he still had three years left on his contract. So, Mat Ishbia had to pull off the good old Stretch and Waive option. How and why?

The clause is usually opted into when a team needs to cut down their payroll for a particular season to either avoid luxury tax or create cap space. As the name suggests, ‘Stretch and Waive’, as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, waives the player immediately and stretches his expensive contract over an extended period, which is usually double the years left on his deal + another year.

It applies to every player who has over $250,000 in guaranteed salary remaining on his deal. Therefore, in Nassir Little’s case, he will receive the remaining $21 million on his deal divided equally over the next seven years. However, in the original scenario, the Suns’ front office owed him $6.75 million for next season, which will now be trimmed down to only $3.1 million, for the years to come.

And it was important for the Suns to act before August 31, because if any later, they would have been forced to pay Little his complete salary for next season and the Stretch and Waive would have only applied for two years of his deal. Moreover, the move makes perfect sense for the team because the forward was not going to be a major part of the rotation, anyway. Sure enough, he became part of the Suns roster last year during the blockbuster three-team trade involving Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday. However, Little only played 45 games last season, most of them coming off the bench, and averaged a career-low 3.4 points.

Don’t worry! Stretch and Waive is not just for the benefit of teams. Even the players get an opportunity to test the market as a free agent once they are waived and hopefully join another team right away. So, while they make guaranteed money for years from the previous franchise because of the stretch provision, they can also reap the benefits of a new deal with another team!

So, it’s basically a win-win situation for both parties. And we might see Nassir Little in a new uniform very soon as he is a solid young player with immense upside. It is important to note that the Stretch and Waive clause would not have applied if Nassir had only one year left on his deal and the move occurred post-September 1. Then, the Suns would have been forced to do a complete buyout.

How can the Phoenix Suns upgrade after Nassir Little’s departure?

Having gone past the second apron, the Suns are no longer eligible to aggregate salaries in trades or even use the mid-level exception to add a high-salaried star to the team. Sure enough, their only option left could be to rely on their rookies. And it looks like they plan on doing so with Nassir Little gone as they are reportedly very impressed by the progress of Oso Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn. With a spot open on the roster, they could use either of these youngsters to play a major role in their rotation.

Surprisingly enough, neither of the rookies was drafted by the Suns on draft night. About Dunn, he was picked at No. 28 by the Nuggets and Oso was a second-round pick by the Blazers. However, both were traded to Phoenix soon after they got selected.

Playing for two years in Virginia, Dunn averaged just above 8 points and nearly 7 rebounds in his sophomore season. Moreover, the guard impressed during the Summer League as he averaged 5.8 points in 4 games. But what caught everyone’s attention was his elite defense as he recorded 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals per game.

Meanwhile, Oso is a seasoned star as he spent 4 years playing at Marquette and averaged 13.4 points and nearly 7 rebounds in his senior year. And he continued his dominance in the Summer League, averaging 7 points and 6 boards. What also stood out was his playmaking skills and ability to make his teammates better as he dished out 4.2 assists per game. His 6’9 frame helped him play some solid defense and add over one steal and block every night.

Although the Phoenix Suns do not require a lot of scoring because they already have Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal to take care of it, they might need the young legs of Dunn and Oso on the defensive end. And this option only opened up thanks to the Stretch and Waive contract situation of Nassir Little.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger