Philadelphia 76ers: 3 possible outcomes for Al Horford

The Philadelphia 76ers could stretch Al Horford

Ah yes, the stretch-and-waive, the nuclear option. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) gives teams the ability to stretch the contracts of players they waive, meaning that their remaining salary is spread out over the remaining years of the contract, multiplied by two and adding one.

For example, if you’re stretching a player who has $20 million and two years remaining on his contract, you would take that $20 million and spread it out over the next five years (two, multiplied by two, plus one). So instead of an average of $10 million per year over two seasons, your team now has a cap hit of $4 million per year over five seasons.

That wouldn’t likely be a possibility for Horford this season, nor should it be. This should be a make-good season for him where he and his coach and his president of basketball operations try to put all the pieces together, but if that doesn’t work, the stretch provision is an option that should be on the table.

Strange as it sounds, even though this contract was comical the moment it was signed, the final two years do have a get-out-of-jail clause for the Sixers. Horford’s final year $26.5 million salary only has $14 million guaranteed. That means his 2021-22 and 2022-23 years have $41 million guaranteed, and that salary could be stretched for $8.2 million each year between 2021-22 and 2026-27.

Daryl Morey will use every trick in the book, so this is definitely an option if all else fails.