Brand ready to trade coasts?
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
In an improbable turn, Elton Brand is leaning toward accepting a five-year, approximately $80 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, multiple league sources said Tuesday afternoon.
Brand had been expected to return to the Los Angeles Clippers after opting out of $16.4 million in the final year of his contract, especially once Golden State’s Baron Davis agreed to join him in Los Angeles. Yet, Brand waited for Philadelphia general manager Ed Stefanski to create more salary-cap space for him – which he did on Monday night by dumping two contracts on Minnesota – and sources close to 76ers management say the organization believes it is close to luring away Brand.
Multiple league executives and agents now believe Brand is destined to sign with the 76ers. Even so, Clippers officials were still working furiously to convince Brand to return to the franchise where he has enjoyed great success over the past eight seasons. They hadn’t lost hope, but are fearful he could be slipping away.
What has hurt the Clippers chances of retaining Brand has been the organization’s refusal to offer anything but a “take-it-or-leave-it” deal since Golden State made its offer. People close to Brand say that stance “pissed him off,” and made him question his original desire to stay a Clipper.
The Clippers could renounce free agents such as Shaun Livingston and Corey Maggette to sweeten what’s believed to be a five-year, $70 million offer, but have resisted upping their bid. Perhaps that could change on Tuesday with the fear of losing him to the 76ers.
Losing Brand would be a horrible blow to the Clippers, who had believed him when he said he would stay for less money should they bring a talented teammate to join him. Golden State has offered the most money – as much as $95 million – but Brand, who missed all but eight games a year ago with a knee injury, had been intrigued with returning to his Eastern roots.
Brand can officially sign a contract on Wednesday when the league’s free-agency moratorium ends.
On Monday, the Sixers traded forwards Rodney Carney, Calvin Booth and a future No. 1 pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves to free as much as $2 million in additional salary cap space to offer Brand. Minnesota sent Philadelphia its $2.8 million trade exception from a 2007 deal of Mark Blount to the Miami Heat.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AldFu4kUyYj9B3GV0vNgt1C8vLYF?slug=aw-brandsixers070708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
If it's indeed true that the Clippers aren't even considering upping the deal then they are the worst run franchise in the NBA. I mean, wouldn't you at least tweak the deal a little bit if it meant keeping Brand's loyalties? He knows after signing Davis the Clippers are at a disadvantage in regards to the cap...he's apparently asking for more than you thought he would but you have to at least try to negotiate. If it really is "take or it leave it" then Baylor and company are idiots like we've all suspected for years. The whole pay cut thing is reliant on Brand's loyalty. If you're pissing him off by that type of stance, you're just asking to be left in the cold.
This is becoming more and more anxiety-inducing the longer Brand waits to make a statement and it seems like other teams are making more of an effort to acquire him.
