On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Clippers filled the void created when Brand exited the Left Coast for South Philadelphia by acquiring All-Star forward

Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for a conditional second-round draft pick in 2010.

This move not only closes a huge hole for the Clippers, it also benefits teams such as the Sixers, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors because it removes the Clips as a player in the free-agent market.

This matters to the Sixers because now, instead of the nearly $12 million in salary-cap space the Clippers had after Brand left and forward Corey Maggette signed with Golden State, they are down to about $2 million.

That limited amount of cap space basically eliminates the last team that would make any kind of contract offer to Iguodala that the Sixers would not match.

With the Clippers out of play, Memphis is the only team with the ability to make Iguodala a lucrative, multiyear deal. The Grizzlies are unlikely to pursue Iguodala because they also have similar players in third-year swingman Rudy Gay and rookies O.J. Mayo and Darrell Arthur.

If Memphis - and that is a huge if - were to try to lure a restricted free agent, it likely would be a big man like Atlanta's Josh Smith, Charlotte's Emeka Okafor, Chicago's Luol Deng or Golden State's Andris Biedrins.

Things are always fluid in the NBA, but it seems that Iguodala has few options other than working out a deal with the Sixers.

Unless Memphis shocks the world, any offer Iguodala can get from another team probably will be considerably less than what the Sixers will offer.

The salary-cap space just isn't out there.

Iguodala could play this season for the $3.8 million qualifying offer and then be an unrestricted free agent next year, but frankly, that's the logic that got him in his current predicament.

Iguodala and his agent read the market wrong when they turned down the reported $57 million contract the Sixers offered before last season.

Iguodala did his part by averaging 19.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals last season.

The problem was that with the Sixers and Grizzlies going into this summer as the only teams with significant salary-cap space, Iguodala's agent should have predicted how tight the market was going to be.

Only Golden State, which watched Baron Davis surprisingly opt out of his contract, and the Clippers entered the market as buyers.

It certainly appears that the gamble Iguodala, Smith, Okafor, Deng, Chicago's Ben Gordon and others took by turning down lucrative extensions last summer to test the free-agent market has blown up in their faces.

All of those players could take 1-year contracts again, but the 2009 free-agent market appears to be even tighter.

With LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Deron Williams, Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili able to become unrestricted free agents in 2010, teams likely will be protective of cap space in hopes of positioning themselves to make a huge splash in 2010.

In a sense, Iguodala and the other restricted free agents are now at the mercy of the generosity of their current teams.

With no other players left to drive up the price on an offer sheet, the teams have the upper hand.

The players can only hope that management still feels as good about them now as it did last summer.

The odds are the Sixers will come to Iguodala with a suitable contract offer - probably similar to the one he originally rejected. They know what he brings to the table and want to keep him happy.

They didn't sign Brand simply to create another problem by having to replace Iguodala.

The plan is for Brand and Iguodala to take the Sixers to the next level.

Thanks to the Clippers and Denver Nuggets, that should now be a bit easier to accomplish. *

Send e-mail to

smallwj@phillynews.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/smallwood.