Miami Heat: Ryan Anderson has been stretched and waived

In order to consummate the sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers that acquired Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat have stretched and waived Ryan Anderson.

It will come as no surprise to anybody, but the Miami Heat have stretched and waived Ryan Anderson‘s expiring contract in order to consummate the sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers that brought Jimmy Butler to South Beach.

According to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel:

Anderson was due just over $21 million next season in the final year of his contract, but only $15.6 million of that amount was guaranteed. The stretch provision takes the guaranteed salary and splits it evenly over the remaining years of the contract, divided by two, plus one. Thus, a one-year salary like Anderson’s gets split over three seasons, and the $15.6 million cap hit is spread out evenly over the next three years.

In order to validate the Butler deal, the Heat had to get under the $138 million luxury apron, which becomes effectively a hard cap if a team acquires a player via sign-and-trade. Now that Anderson has been stretched, the Heat will have $129.3 million on the books for next season, which puts them just $1.6 million over the luxury tax.

It’s been expected for some time that Anderson would get stretched, as his contract was essentially dead money and the only selling point to move him would have been for another team to take and stretch that contract.

This could be an indication that the Miami Heat have likely concluded their major moves for the summer, as stretching Anderson and leaving his money on the books would obviously be the organization’s least preferred route. With cap space around the NBA virtually gone, this was likely the only remaining avenue for the Heat to comply with the CBA and get off this bad salary.