According to multiple reports, former Sixer Andre Iguodala will opt out of his contract with the Denver Nuggets next season to become a free agent.

Iguodala, whose lone all-star season came with the Sixers in 2012, is set to make $16.2 million next season. By opting out, he’ll have the ability to sign a five-year contract with the Nuggets or a four-year deal with another team.

The news is somewhat surprising, considering the Nuggets held a 57-25 record last season. Yet as a No.3 seed in the Western Conference, the Nuggets were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors. Their head coach George Karl was fired and their GM Masai Ujiri also left for a job with the Toronto Raptors.

What’s more surprising is the move by Iguodala to decide to take less money in order to have a better shot at an NBA title.

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Luring LeBron James back to Cleveland will no longer include Phil Jackson as the Cavaliers announced yesterday that they’ll be rehiring coach Mike Brown who previously found great coaching success with the Cavs.

Brown went 272-138 previously with the Cavs, teaming with LeBron James on a run to the NBA Finals in 2007.  He also had two seasons where he won more than 60 games in 2008-09 (66-16) and 2009-10 (61-21).

The move seems sudden for the Cavs, as just three days ago they had apparently been courting Jackson over the open job position with the team.

This leaves Jackson at the way side again, much like he was back in November when the Lakers fired Mike Brown after the teams 1-4 start to the season.  Rumors swirled at the thought of Jackson being rehired for the Lakers’ job much like his name was before Brown got the job with the Cavs, but the Lakers impatiently grabbed Mike D’Antoni instead.

If the Zen Master indeed wants to take to the sidelines one more time, which it’s been said he’s “itching” to do, then why not look at a proud organization like the Philadelphia Sixers?

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As we all know, the 2010 NBA Finals, featuring the 76ers most hated rivals — the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics — tips off tonight in Los Angeles. 

Yesterday here at the Philadunkia offices we held a group prayer session pleading with the basketball gods to find a way for neither of our fiercest rivals to claim the 2010 NBA title and as we called on the hoop powers that be, some fascinating connections between the 76ers and the two squads in the 2010 NBA Finals came to light.

So we thought we’d share with our readers some of the interesting and fun gems we discussed and debated yesterday here at the Philadunkia offices.

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This Friday edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent the defending NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. 

What would you like us to say about tonight’s game against the World Champion Lakers?  We all know that the 76ers have little shot at winning this one and it’s just a matter of how bad the Lakers want to beat us tonight.  It doesn’t matter that this is game 6 of an eight game road trip for the Lakers.  It doesn’t matter that Ron Artest is hurt and playing the worst basketball of his career.  It doesn’t matter that the Lakers as a team are not playing their best ball right now (3-2 on this road trip; 7-5 over their last 12 games) .  Nor does it matter that Kobe has a broken finger on his hand that is causing issues with his shot.  The Lakers are simply a much, much better team all-around and despite all of the above “problems” LA should win this game easily. 

The Sixers one sliver of hope is the NBA’s version of the trap game theory.  The Lakers have a highly anticipated game at Boston on Sunday afternoon that will be broadcast to a national television audience.  So there is a slim chance that the Lakers could be looking past the lowly Sixers and ahead to their statement game against Boston on Sunday.  Maybe the Sixers get very lucky and LA totally sleep walks through this game and we can steal one, but it’s doubtful and here’s why…

Let’s pretend that by some miracle the Lakers sleep walk through the first quarter of the game and the Sixers are keeping this one close.  The moment the boos start raining down on Kobe from the Wachovia Center seats, the Lower Merion product is going to flip the switch, become “The Black Mamba”, hang a 40-spot on the Sixers terrible defense and carry his squad to the W.  Kobe lives to be heckled and booed — it motivates him.  He also loves sticking it the Philly fans every chance he gets.  This long-shot hypothetical situation would be just another opportunity for him to “cut out their hearts” down at the Wach and he would relish every second of it.  He’s Jordan-esque like that. 

For a little more insight into the Lakers team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Kurt Helin from forumblueandgold.com to answer two questions on LA from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Lakers squad from an insider’s perspective. 

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It is now being widely reported that former Laker playing legend and current Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis is no longer a candidate for the 76ers head coaching position.

According to the Daily News and the Inquire as well as ESPN.com, sources have said that last night,

“the Sixers have informed the longtime Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach that they are going in another direction in their search…”

Rambis was one of the potential candidates Sixers GM Ed Stefanski met with in Cali last week.

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