Today the L.A. Clippers pulled a rabbit out of the hat by obtaining Marcus Camby from the L.A. Clippers. The deal is that Camby camby-225x300 L.A. Clippers Obtain Marcus Camby From Denver Nuggetsgoes to L.A. and the Nuggets receive the rights to exchange 2nd round picks in 2010.

Championship Impact: The long and short of it is that Denver made this trade for cap room and L.A. made this trade as a way to replace the departed Elton Brand. Check out John Hollinger’s break down on ESPN for another opinion! Now the Clip don’t necessarily get the scoring presence of Brand but good luck trying to get to the basket with Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman in your way. The Clip get to stay competitive this season and can maybe sneak into the 8th spot in a VERY difficult Western Conference. As for the Nuggets, they shed a large amount of cap space but other than that it is hard to tell where they stand. This is clearly not their last move of the season as they can use their $10M trade exemption as well as sign multiple free agents remaining (Okafor, Josh Smith, Deng, Gordon…who knows) or they is also the rumored availability of ‘Melo.

Longterm Impact: The most long term impact I can quantify is that the Nuggets have cleared lots of cap space to sign players this season that effect their team in the future. The Clippers on the other hand do not look so great to me for the future. Their nucleus is not how they say, young. Camby (34) & Baron Davis (29) are not the youngest players and other than last season both are HUUUGE injury risks. Both had healthy seasons last year but that could all change in an instant. However, they do have a few younger players in Kaman, Thornton, Powell & draft choice Eric Gordon could evolve eventually but will Camby and Baron still be around by then?

Fantasy Impact: This is the most interesting area to me, (clearly). All I have to say on the Nuggets front is …… DRAFT NENE!!! Rotoworld agrees….Nene, as the only true Center for the Nuggets will share the brunt of the workload. Even though he’s coming off testicular cancer surgery I would still target him as a decent 2nd C and a great 3rd C (if your league permits that many C’s or has Utility spots). Expect at least 10 pts, 8-9 rebounds if Nene stays healthy. His only rap is that Nene is not a great shot blocker but if Nene can manage F/C eligibility that will only increase his value. Kenyon Martin will also be a solid pick if he can stay healthy but that is a GIANT if! Also look at Linas Kleiza\ who could be a good source of pts if the Nuggets decide to run a small line-up with Kleiza at power forward, a distinct possibility according to John Hollinger.

As for the Clippers, no change really. Camby will still clog the middle but with Kaman around his block numbers may take a dip. He averaged 3.6 blocks per game last season with 13.1 rebounds. Kaman may eat into those numbers making Camby a sort of risky pick as you don’t know how him and Kaman will mesh. But remember, Camby is Camby and he’s still going to block shots regardless.

-Fantasy Guru Maxmillien