What does frontloading a contract involve?

Frontloading a contract involves paying more salary in the earlier years of the contract compared to the later years. This strategy can be beneficial for teams that expect the salary cap to increase substantially over time, allowing them to allocate more resources to a player when the contract starts, then potentially easing the financial burden in subsequent years.

By frontloading contracts, teams can also mitigate risks associated with potential declines in player performance later in the deal or unforeseen salary cap restrictions. It allows for a larger capital expenditure up front while providing the flexibility for renegotiation or restructuring in later years as needed.

The other options do not fully capture the essence of frontloading: evenly distributing payments does not align with the principle of frontloading, while including bonus incentives or deferring payments would represent alternative financial strategies.