When the Milwaukee Bucks waived and stretched Damian Lillard’s $112.6 million contract earlier this week, a new precedent was set, one unlike anything we’ve seen in NBA history. No team had ever waived and stretched a salary even remotely close to that size. The previous record? Just $31 million.
But when that move went down, something we’ve been circling here in Phoenix since February suddenly felt real.
Because the Suns, much like the Bucks, have a player sitting on a contract with two years and over $100 million still owed. And in the Bucks’ attempt to ease their immediate financial burden, they chose a long-term solution: pay Lillard $22.