76ers, Nuggets partner again with 2-for-2 trade

The teams that combined on December's Allen Iverson blockbuster trade are hooking up for another deal Monday, according to NBA front-office sources.

Philadelphia and Denver have agreed on a deal expected to send reserve center Steven Hunter and second-year forward Bobby Jones to Iverson's Nuggets for forward Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Puerto Rican forward Ricky Sanchez.

The trade is scheduled to be announced later Monday.

The Nuggets knew they were thrusting themselves into luxury-tax territory when they won the Iverson Sweepstakes, but this deal will enable them to shed nearly $8 million in salary.

They're also getting themselves a backup for veteran center Marcus Camby by tapping into their depth at power forward, believing that Evans would have struggled for minutes with Kenyon Martin expected to make his comeback from a second microfracture knee surgery and with Nene Hilario and George Karl favorite Eduardo Najera also ahead of him at the position.

In Evans, Philadelphia lands one of the league's foremost per-minute rebounders. Evans offset his offensive limitations by averaging 7.0 boards in 17.1 minutes per game for the Nuggets last season and has a career average of 7.2 rebounds in just 19.9 minutes.

If there's a risk for the 76ers, it's the foot injury suffered by starting center Samuel Dalembert while playing for Canada in the recent pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas. Yet Sixers president Billy King said last week that the club expects Dalembert to be ready for the start of training camp Oct. 2 in Durham, N.C. Dalembert started all 82 games last season.

Hunter has been available via trade for well over a year, after the Sixers nearly dealt him to New Orleans in February 2006. The trade with the Hornets, halfway through Hunter's first season in Philadelphia, would have sent two second-round picks to Philadelphia but was rescinded by the Hornets because of unspecified health concerns. The 7-footer averaged 6.4 points and 4.8 minutes for the Sixers last season, playing 70 games and averaging 22.9 minutes.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

Source: ESPN.com