Teams don't really talk about why they are doing it, but a few teams have structured their contracts to restricted free agents so the team holding the rights won't resign.
The Blazers gave Paul Millsap a ridiculous front-loaded contract when Utah was stuck trying to resign him and keep Boozer. That contract would have cost Utah like 10mm upfront on the day of signing, which would have triggered Utah into the luxury tax area. It was structured so that the signing bonus was like 6mm and the entire first year's salary was paid on the first day it was effective instead of monthly or biweekly.
That way, if the Jazz matched it, it cost them like 10mm in a week and another 4mm within a month or something ridiculous like that.
Blazers did that again to the Jazz with Wesley Matthews.
The Heat did something similar to try to sign both Brand and Odom from the Clippers back in 03ish. Within a week, Miami made ridiculous offers to Odom and Brand as Utah gave one to Maggette. They basically teamed up to force Sterling to pay his players or let them walk.
