How waiving Kyle Singler helps the Thunder now and later

The Thunder will clear a roster spot and save millions by waiving veteran forward Kyle Singler, The Oklahoman confirmed on Thursday.

Singler, 30, was the fourth-longest tenured player on the Thunder and was set to make $4,996,000 this season, the final guaranteed year of a five-year extension he signed in 2015. The final year of that deal was a team option for 2019-20.

By waiving Singler, the Thunder will beat the Friday deadline to use the stretch provision and have it apply to this season. The stretch provision allows the Thunder to stretch out Singler's guaranteed money remaining over the next five seasons. The Thunder will have close to $1 million in dead money on its cap until the 2023-24 season, which should do minimal damage to its salary based on NBA salary cap projections.

Most importantly, the Thunder saves more than $20 million in luxury taxes this season by waving Singler now and cutting the salary it pays him this season from $4.9 million to $999,200.

Singler being waived was first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

With Singler out, the Thunder has 14 guaranteed contracts on its roster, not counting two-way players Deonte Burton and Tyler Davis. The Thunder's payroll is $145.5 million after adjusting for Singler's new salary, and it is projected to pay $73.7 million in luxury taxes, down from $93.1 million.

It's still not out of the question that the Thunder could add a player during the season using the $5.6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, a veteran minimum deal or via trade, but for now, the waiving of Singler is financially based — a cost-cutting move for a player who saw just 59 minutes of game time last season.

Singler finished his Thunder career with averages of 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game while shooting 30.9 percent from 3-point range in 138 regular-season appearances.

When the Thunder acquired Singler as part of a trade deadline deal in February 2015, it thought it was getting the player entering his prime on a discount. Singler shot 37.9 percent from 3-point range in three seasons in Detroit. Singler was a fine locker room presence, but that player from the Pistons never emerged in Oklahoma City.

With Kevin Durant entrenched at small forward, Singler had to assume a different role in Oklahoma City. Singler's greatest success in Detroit came as a starter, but he went from starting 68 percent of his games in Detroit (150 of 218) to just 16 percent (22 of 138) in Oklahoma City. Singler also was leapfrogged by other wings in Dion Waiters, Alex Abrines, Terrance Ferguson, and even veteran Corey Brewer, who immediately stepped into the starting lineup when signed after the trade deadline last season.

Much of Singler's legacy in Oklahoma City will be tied up in his salary. With the salary cap set to explode in 2016 from $70 million to $94.1 million, the five-year extension the Thunder signed Singler to seemed prudent at the time. Yet, Singler never justified his nearly $5 million per season salary, nor could the Thunder rekindle his best shooting numbers from his first three seasons in the NBA.

While Singler's salary was never the difference between the Thunder winning a championship or not in the last four seasons, it proved too much this season for what amounted to the 15th man on the roster. The Thunder seldom let assets go for nothing, and trading Singler's contract would have been the best option. But, like the Carmelo Anthony trade from July, teams would have needed incentive to take on Singler's contract beyond the expiring $5.3 million he represented in 2019-20 — incentive in the form of draft capital or young prospects. Simply put, it's not easy to trade Anthonys and Singlers, even with the financial incentive other teams gain by acquiring their expiring deals.

The Thunder has traded every possible first rounder it can (teams cannot trade first round picks in consecutive years, thus the Thunder owns its 2019 first-round pick. Otherwise, it owes picks to teams through 2022). Keeping Singler to be traded later was another option, but it may have required packaging young assets on the roster.

So, the stretch provision existed as an option for the Thunder to help itself financially now while it continues to be limited in what incentives it can offer other teams. The Thunder lost on the Singler deal, and Thursday was its attempt to rectify, primarily in luxury tax savings which can potentially be reinvested into the team.