I can sum it up real quick:
IT DOESN'T DOUBLE HIS CAP SAVINGS
Why are you focusing on double? Its not about doubling anything, it's just how the number work. And it's not really a doubling, as I misstated his cap hit for 2020...........it's not 8MM, it's 9MM. You only save $8MM if you cut him and have to eat $1MM in dead money.
OK, let's try this again in another crude example.
- Salary Cap for 2020 is $100MM
- Salary Cap for 2021 is $110MM
- Player X has a cap hit of $13MM for just 2020
- Rest of the players have same cap hit in 2020 and 2021
- If you cut Player X this year, you save $7MM in cap space
- If you don't cut Player X, the team is using the full $100MM in space this year.
So if you don't cut him this year, his contract rolls off in 2021 and your team now has $87MM in cap commitments for 2021. With a cap ceiling of $110MM, the team would then have $23MM in cap space for 2021.
However, if you cut him now and save $7MM in cap space this year and roll that over, you still only have $87MM in cap commitments for 2021 but then your cap ceiling isn't $110MM, it's $117MM (base cap ceiling of $100MM + $7MM in cap rollover from 2020). Therefore, $117MM cap ceiling minus $87MM in cap commitments, you now have $30MM in cap space for 2021.