Sacramento Kings Are No Longer Paying Matt Barnes

It has been nearly three years since Matt Barnes stepped foot on an NBA court, so why are the Sacramento Kings cutting him a check for $2.1 million?

There haven’t been very many good stories or positive outcomes from the NBA’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 situation, but we’ve been doing our best to uncover the silver linings for the Sacramento Kings. One of those things has to do with their payroll the end of their obligation to Matt Barnes.

It has been a long time since we heard Barnes’ name associated with the Kings, but you’ll see his name on the payroll for each of the last four years.

Barnes originally signed a contract with Sacramento in 2016 that was a two-year deal worth $12 million. He lasted just 54 games with the Kings, and was released in February 2017 to facilitate the DeMarcus Cousins trade. While Sacramento still owed Barnes the $6 million+ for the second year of the contract, they apparently didn’t want to give it to him all at once. Instead, the team exercised a stretch provision.

A stretch provision allows a team to stretch its payments to a player over a given amount of time instead of giving it to them all at once. Any subsequent years owed to the player are spread out over twice the remaining years, plus one. This means that the Kings are paying Barnes his $6 million, but are taking three years to do so. If you’re familiar with the Bobby Bonilla situation with the New York Mets, it kind of works like that, albeit on a much smaller scale.

So that makes the 2019-’20 season the last one that will see Sacramento cut a check to a player who hasn’t played a minute since Buddy Hield arrived. They are now freed of their obligation, and Barnes gets a cool pay day nearly three years after the last time he stepped foot on an NBA basketball court.

Not a bad deal.