Andre Iguodala Has Deng Fever

If Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala has really asked for $75 million over six years, the only explanation can be the recent contracts for Luol Deng and Emeka Okafor. All three fellows (along with Ben Gordon) rejected substantial offers last summer and are struggling to make up the difference this time around. Through tough negotiation and/or delicious muffin baskets, both Okafor and Deng signed deals better than $70 million this week.

As Shoals has argued, the class of 2004 is completely weird, and stuck in a paradigm no longer relevant to the NBA. An extra problem beyond that: there has been no real baseline for these players. Kevin Martin's $55 million, five-year deal last summer was the closest comp (he's also class of '04), and Al Jefferson's $12 million annually also bears relevance. But that's it.

With Deng and Okafor, there's a new baseline. Iguodala asserts he deserves more (which is debatable). There's order in restricted free agency at long last. Deng's deal especially, replete with incentive clauses, brings the class of '04 up to speed and has -- more than anything but Josh Childress in Greece -- evened scales for restricted free agents.

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