Trade bonus - how is it paid?

[FGump]

If a player has a trade bonus (kicker) as part of his deal ...

1. Is it all paid up front? Or is it added to the guaranteed portion of the contract and paid out gradually?
2. If it's all up front, who writes the check? The old team, the new team, half-and-half, or per whatever the teams agree?
3. If a player's contract will net him a kicker of $5M and team X wants to trade for him, can THEY pay the $5M? Or is that only doable to the extent that they are using the $3M cash window in a trade?
4. Could a team pay for an incoming players kicker and then also send a full $3M in cash to his old team as a trade sweetener?

Thanks for any help.

[casey]

1. Paid right away
2. Either team can pay it
3. Yes
4. Yes

[bgwizarfan]

I think the only stipulation is that if the former team pays it, then whatever the former team pays counts towards the $3 million they can pay in a trade.

So just the previous team is limited in the amount of the bonus it can pay. The new team isn't. This actually makes sense since the bonus kicks in with the new team's cap figure in the upcoming years, so there shouldn't really be a limit on the amount of the bonus the new team can pay

[casey]

What's the point of allowing the team trading the player to pay it then? If it's no different than just giving cash, then it seems pretty unnecessary and confusing to allow it.