With a report somewhat echoed by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Aldridge, the Denver Post’s Marc J. Spears hints at one of Allen Iverson’s likely destination.

To make a deal work, the Nuggets would likely trade forward- center Nene and possibly two other players with expiring contracts, along with their two first-round picks in 2007, to Philadelphia. Since Nene is in the first year of a five-year, $60-million contract, the Sixers may want to send him to Portland for center Jamaal Magloire in order to acquire another expiring contract.

While the Clippers are supposedly balking at Philly’s asking price of Corey Maggette and Shaun Livingston, add the Kings to the list of teams that are allegedly no longer discussing an Iverson swap, writes the Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voisin.

The Kings passed on an Iverson deal for several reasons, among them the potentially toxic pairing with Artest and the always present salary cap management. The modern NBA is dominated by cap concerns — expiring contracts, etc. — as much as it is by talent. And as much as anything, this is why Bibby’s future with the Kings is uncertain; if he opts out at the end of the season, the Kings are free of $28 million over the ensuing two seasons.

The question regarding Bibby inevitably is this: Is there a market out there for a shooting point guard on the cusp of 30?

If you’re wondering how it is that Iverson could demand a trade yet reject a proposed move to Charlotte, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein raises the same issue. According to Stein, Kobe Bryant is the only NBA megastar with a no-trade clause in his contract.

This simply isn’t baseball, where no-trade clauses or partial no-trade clauses are routinely built into player contracts … and where the famed 10-and-5 rule automatically enables veterans with 10 years of service time and five with a player’s current team to veto trades.

In the NBA, only players with at least eight years of service time and four with the same team are eligible for a no-trade clause.

The problem?

Very few players get to that point with one team and then have the opportunity to negotiate a no-trade clause through free-agency.

Star players like Iverson, for starters, generally sign their first big-money deals well before their eighth season.

Star players like Iverson, furthermore, often sign extensions to those big deals … and NBA extensions do not allow players to add major changes in contract terms, such as a no-trade clause. A player must enter free agency to change major terms in a contract.