It's not about a signing bonus, but a frontloaded deal with decreasing salaries. If the Jazz were going to extend Sap, the optimal solution would be a frontloaded deal that kills our MAX contract possibilities for 13 (assuming Marvin's inevitable opt in.) But that's trickier than just offering it. While financially it's always better for a player to get a frontloaded deal, it also means the player accepts he's trade bait with each advancing year. And in Sap's case, there's a high chance a team 2 years down the road would be trading for him as a backup.
My gut feeling with Sap is he wants a deal that effectively cements him as a starter. So he'll want the raises. As a result, resigning him is probably contingent on accepting salaries in years 3 and 4 of higher than 10 which is where it gets iffy.
