there has to be a way for Paul to opt out of his deal and make up the difference across a multi-year deal (even if it stretches out 5-6 years)
Based on the rough numbers (which are always subject to change), the most Pierce could make would be around $6 million in the first year of his contract.
The max deal we could offer would be:
Year 1: $6 million
Year 2: $6.63 million
Year 3: $7.26 million
Year 4: $7.89 million
Year 5: $8.52 million
Year 6: $9.15 million
In other words, he could sign a six year, $45.45 million contract.
If he simply plays for his option amount, he'd make $21,513,521 in one season. That means that over the next five years of the deal, he'd only be making $23.93 million, or roughly $4.8 million per season.
In other words, I don't think there's much of a way to make the deal financially beneficial for Pierce.