Scratch Philadelphia from the list of NBA teams pursuing Hawks restricted free agent forward Josh Smith.

The Sixers received a verbal agreement on a five-year, $82-million contract from veteran power forward Elton Brand Tuesday night, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, thus ending their pursuit of Smith.

AP (ENLARGE)

Elton Brand's (right) agreement with the 76ers may be good news for the Hawks' effort to keep Josh Smith.

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Smith was in Philadelphia last week for a visit and was wined and dined by the Sixers, but left town without a verbal agreement to sign an offer sheet.

The NBA's moratorium on signing free agents ended Tuesday at midnight and Wednesday is the first day teams can sign free agents. Suddenly, the threat of having to match a huge, front-loaded offer for Smith is gone for the Hawks.

Brand, the two-time All-Star and former No. 1 pick in the draft, had to decide which to pick among lucrative offers from the Los Angeles Clippers, his former team, the Golden State Warriors and the Sixers.

With Brand out of the picture, the Clippers are suddenly in the market for a power forward to replace him. Smith is currently in Los Angeles on "business," according to his agent, Brian Dyke, who is with him.

Dyke declined to comment on the specifics of their business and also declined to comment on Smith's immediate plans now that the Sixers appear to have moved on.

Last week, the Clippers offered Brand a five-year, $70 million deal. The Warriors countered with five-year, $90 million deal, according to the Los Angeles Times.

When the Sixers hosted Smith last week, they were expected to be working with a starting salary of just over $11 million, well below the figure the Clippers and Warriors were working with.

But, in an effort to clear more salary cap space to make a more lucrative offer to Brand, the Sixers traded forward Rodney Carney, center Calvin Booth and a future first round draft pick to Minnesota.

The Hawks still must sort out the futures of both Smith and fellow restricted free agent Josh Childress, who has been contacted by more than a half-dozen teams interested in acquiring him through various sign-and-trade deals.

The Hawks retain the right to match any offer to either player, with a seven-day window to decide if they want to match or not, per league rules.

The Hawks have maintained since last October that they will match any offers made to Smith and Childress to keep their core intact.

The fourth-year players, both selected in the first round of the 2004 draft, have been staples in the organization and the longest tenured players on the Hawks' roster.

Now that Brand has agreed to a contract with the Sixers, keeping both Smith and Childress appears to be much more likely for the Hawks, who can offer more lucrative contracts than any other team. They can offer a six-year deal as opposed to the maximum five that other teams can offer.

The salary numbers the Hawks and other teams are working with are approximations. They depend on the salary cap figure, estimated to be anywhere from $58 million to $59 million, which the league distributed to teams Tuesday night.