Angry Masai

The Nuggets are said to be fuming that the league's new labor agreement wouldn't allow them to sign-and-trade Kenyon Martin to his new team -- thereby positioning Martin to make a little more money in the deal and score an asset for Denver in the process -- but the Clippers' offer of $2.5 million for the rest of the season trumped all other suitors because of the role they can offer with it.

Word is that Martin prefers to play in the West because the proliferation of quality power forwards throughout the conference should translate to more playing time. That's especially true with the Clippers, who desperately need another big man to join Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Evans.

Miami ranked as the most attractive situation in the East for the 34-year-old, but the Heat could only offer him a prorated contract at the veteran minimum.

Sources close to the situation say that the Clippers initially wanted to make a run at shooting guard J.R. Smith as well but conceded that frontcourt depth is the bigger priority and have focused on Martin. It's the opposite approach to that taken by the Knicks, who also had interest in both ex-Nuggets but have a greater need for Smith's perimeter shooting than Martin's defensive know-how and are thus focused on trying to land Smith when he returns from China in the next month.