The Suns plan to waive point guard Chris Paul, whose $30.8MM contract for 2023/24 is partially guaranteed at $15.8MM, sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT (Twitter link).
In a recent podcast appearance with Zach Lowe, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggested the Suns might waive Paul instead of guaranteeing the remainder of his salary. He also predicted Paul would still be on the roster next season (YouTube link).
“Stretch Chris Paul?” asked Lowe (hat tip to RealGM)
“There are other things that can be done,” said Windhorst.
“I might be dumb, but I think Chris Paul is still good,” replied Lowe.
“I think Chris Paul will be a Sun next year, but what if he’s a Sun and they don’t have to pay him $30 million,” said Windhorst.
As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets, the Suns could stretch Paul’s $15.8MM cap hit over five years, which would equal $3.16MM annually. However, if they go that route, they would be ineligible to re-sign Paul over that same time frame.
If they simply release his contract and he clears waivers, Paul will become an unrestricted free agent and able to sign with any team, including Phoenix. In a thin free agent market, he will be one of the best players available, despite his advancing age (he turned 38 last month).
As we noted in our Offseason Preview, if the Suns were to guarantee Paul’s salary, they would have been in danger of exceeding the second tax apron, which is a pseudo-hard cap in the new CBA. Waiving (or waiving and stretching) Paul would make it easier to stay below that threshold and give Phoenix more options to work with, but the team would also risk losing him for nothing.
The 12-time All-Star plans to play “several” more seasons and is enthusiastic about helping a team contend for a title, according to Haynes (Twitter link). Haynes reported last month that the Suns were considered likely to guarantee the remainder of Paul’s contract, but obviously there was a change of plans.
Paul is coming off another disappointing playoff exit that was related to injuries. This time, he suffered a left groin strain in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Nuggets that sidelined him for the rest of the series.
Paul, who has led the league in steals six times and assists five times, is widely considered one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, as well as one of the best players to have never won a championship. In his first season with Phoenix back in ’20/21, he helped the team reach the Finals, ultimately falling to the Bucks in six games.
In 59 regular season games (32.0 minutes) in ’22/23, he averaged 13.9 points, 8.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals on .440/.375/.831 shooting. He holds career averages of 17.9 points, 9.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals on .472/.369/.870 shooting in 1214 games (34.4 MPG).
LAL or Philly make sense.
He’s going back to the Suns
My predictions for his destination
Heat 60%
Lakers 30%
SUNS just added one more headache for them, in the West – CP3 will likely sign with the one of the LA teams.
And be hurt for the playoffs. No headache at all
Don’t sell him short. He’ll be injured a couple of times during the season, too.
LA here he comes. Too bad Melo and DWade retired, but maybe the banana boat crew comes together at long last.
I’m a bit shocked, that 15 mill really cant be made up with internal talent (bird rights) re-signs or free agency (they have none) . I suppose minority owner children might have a little better xmas next year but this is really just money here
Did Ishbia really need it?
Thought at worst it be trade ballast
Idk how they didnt find a trade partner.
$30 million dollars on the books before draft night for an aging guy that the team would cut anyway… that is why
No its 15.8M bc that’s the guaranteed portion.
So you’re suggesting somebody would have waived him after trading him in some sort of salary dumping maneuver? That makes more sense to you?
Yes.
i assume Z-A 2 & padam wear a helmet when they leave the house
I’m sorry Simple Jack, but you do realize this maneuver happens often right? Westbrook ring a bell? Theres a rule on trading partially guaranteed contracts specifically to prevent blatant cap circumvention. But the Suns could have traded Paul + picks to a team for a player making around 18M or less. And then that team can just cut Paul. Larger the contract, typically larger the compensation.
They don’t have FRP to add to the deal, nobody’s eating $30M
Its 15.8M not 30.
Indeed. I also dont understand why they couldnt find an agreement with Paul to push back the salary guarantee date and trade him.
If they add the maximum amount of cash (around 7 million?) it would cost the other team about 8 million to take on Paul, minus whatever he gives up in a buy-out.
They wouldnt get much draft compensation though indeed. And maybe they could get off a contract with a negative trade value, that is later packaged with Ayton for other assets, but also that wont be easy.
So I dont directly see the ideal deal.
Its a difficult situatio , I understand tbe waive option somehow (as then he can stay) but the alternatives seem worth it due to luxury tax on the waived salary.
They should start by pushing back the salary guarantee date in my view. Although Paul might not want it to get the Mid Level Exception elsewhere before all teams use it.
You’re new Lakers PG!
Id bet higher on the Clippers right now
Nah. Been there, done that. His buddy will probably be the target if he doesn’t rejoin the Suns.
CP3 might want to talk to the Spurs… if they think Wemby and Pop can carry them to a 6-8 seed, odds are Paul on a 2 year $40 million deal could make them a 4-6 seed. West is brutal obviously but they have the wiggle room to try.
That’s an overpay…
Perhaps it would be partially guaranteed. Interesting idea though. It would be good to have a vet with Wemby. Too many kids on that team.
In overpay? Yes. But with the free agent pool as limited as it is? Probably what teams are going to offer. I can see the AAV drop to maybe 15-17 if its a 3 year deal
Paul isn’t coming to San Antonio. He’d be bored. No friends. Baby sitting. He wants a ring.
He went to Phoenix went nobody thought they were title contenders. Wemby changes the equation entirely
No he doesn’t.
Yea he does ..get over that Spurs boring bullcrap narrative..you obviously haven’t been seeing any games or players from the Spurs lately
Miami , LAC , Philii , bucks , Boston ,makes sense lakers maybe but I don’t think he fits well with Lebron
Lebron was on the phone to Laker’s GM one minute later begging him to get Paul
Would be nice if Paul went to the Lakers.
Why and how would lebron call himself?
Why not delay the salary guarantee date, trade his 15.8 salary (plus cash) to another team that buys him out?
To convince Paul you could guarantee e.g. 2 million extra to facilitate that option?
Only downside is he couldnt re-sign for minimum salary. But is that worth the luxury tax on 15.8 million? And there’s no guarantee he re-signs with Phoenix.
Cant do (any) of that regarding the trades
Why is such a thing not possible?
Once hes traded its locked in for 30 for new team
Still tho, a team might value dispersing 30 mill of multi year signed guys to get that expiring .
I.e- Dallas with THjr Bullock and Javale McGee
I don’t think the number 30 woulda been all that scary to maneuver and they coulda added talent with it
I didnt know a trade always guarantees the full salary?
They could’ve added some cash also.
Windbag was obviously told something. I doubt he is “predicting” CP3 will still be on the PHX roster based on his own hunch. Strange. Waiver eliminates all bird, early bird and non-bird rights, and they still have no cap space. So, if they re-sign him, it would have to be with the MLE.
Phoenix def needs a pg in whatever return they get out of a Ayton trade. Jalen Suggs from Orlando is the best option of top of my head. Even if they get Suggs they should still go after Russ Westbrook hard tho. Even moreso than Chris Paul, Russ is the perfect vet for Suggs to learn from
Russ isn’t a perfect vet for anyone to learn from.
Wonder if Rockets will make a push. I did not think he would remain with Monty the coach elsewhere. But PHX favors Durant now. I wish CP3 good luck. Hopefully goes somewhere to help. But his groin or such that has hampered him too. I know he wants a ring most likely. But will see where he ends up
Very interesting Phoenix badly needs depth and need a PG it does get them the full MLE and BI but still not enough to get a PG better than CP3. They have to have a mutual agreement where CP3 is back at a low cost like harden did with philly. Which would make sense as CP3 wants a ring and has already made lots of money and would still be getting paid that 15 million. If not he would be a great fit with the clippers if they can’t bring back Russ.
Thunder should bring back Paul.
At this point Paul may not be an every day starting PG but could certainly be a back up that leads a 2nd unit. Save some wear and tear on his aging body.
I think you also look at Grizzlies too. Grizzlies should deal Ja Morant to the Mavericks in a deal for the #10 pick plus other draft assets. Take back Hardaway Jr and McGee in salary. Roll with Jones as starter and Paul as back up.
…what other draft assets?
Dallas currently owns their own 1st round 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2030 draft picks.
Nope, only eligible 1st rder is 2027 for Dal to trade (other than 10 draft night this year ofc)
Disgusting
They made a $15mil bet he’d be hurt/injured next April/May…
Who’d bet $30mil he wouldn’t?
Nobody
hes only helpful in moving a team up 1-2 seeds before no-showing in the playoffs
much ado about nothing
Can’t wait until the Heat sign him.
Unless, Detroit offers him some money
They shouldn’t be able to sign anyone then. I hate this new NBA. Just waive a player. Should be stuck with him. Should of traded him and Ayton for Conley and gobert and picks. Silvers NBA is horrible. I remember when the Knicks were stuck with Jerome James. Cam is the starting PG
Phoenix needs to figure out a way to trade CP3 for something useful.
Suns are over the cap, and need assets, not extra $$$ that won’t allow them to improve the roster this offseason.
I’d probably keep Paul, but not for $30 million
Paul is still a great player when he can play. He’s like the rest of us….can’t do it as hard for as long as we once could. I’d also keep him but as a co-point guard and limit his minutes to 20 a game so he has something left in June.