General Terms

Nassir Little

  1. Little had $21,750,000 over three years remaining, which is now dead salary for Phoenix.
  2. Phoenix elected to stretch the dead salary, putting $3,107,143 in dead salary on their books each season through 2030-2031 (including this season).

E.J. Liddell

  1. Liddell had $2,120,693 in his final season remaining, which is now dead salary for Phoenix.
  2. Phoenix elected to stretch the dead salary, putting $706,898 in dead salary on their books each season through 2026-2027.

Further Cap Discussion

  1. Teams have until August 29th to waive a player should they want to stretch his salary for the current year, as he has to clear waivers by August 31st to allow them to elect to stretch his current year’s salary by the August 31st deadline.
    1. The new CBA now has a “delayed stretch”, where if a team has multiple years of dead salary, they can forego stretching in earlier seasons, but elect to stretch the salary in the upcoming seasons (it used to be an “all or nothing” election at the time the player was initially waived).
    2. Therefore, the Suns could have kept Little’s full $6.75 million on the books this season, but elected to stretch the remaining dead salary during the 2025 offseason. However, with their large team salary this season they are looking to obtain tax relief this season.
  2. When stretching salary, you multiply the remaining seasons by two and add one more season. You count the current season’s salary in the stretched salary if the election takes place prior to August 31st.
    1. Because Phoenix elected to stretch both their salaries before August 31st, Little’s remaining three years is stretched over 7 seasons (3 x 2 + 1 = 7) and Liddell’s final seasons is stretched over 3 seasons (1 x 2 + 1 = 3).
  3. Visit my article discussing the Suns’ tax situation for more detail on the Suns capsheet and their tax liability moving forward.