That's the point I was going to make. The other angle I think about is that even if money loses value over years due to inflation (always has/always will), matching money to expected production needs to be taken into account. Say you give Freeman $160-$180 MM over six years. If you front load that, he would be easier to unload if his production were to fall off in the last two years of his contract and/or you would have more money available to replace the expected erosion in Freeman's production.
But, we can't trade him. He'll have 10/5 protection in (I think) less than 2 years when he reaches the 10 year mark. I think he has almost the full 10 now. The only chance is if the 10/5 protection is taken away in the next CBA, but we can't bet on that.