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Reasons debated as Elton Brand leaves Clippers for 76ers
Star and his agent say it was Clippers' first low offer and other issues that made them look elsewhere. Coach Mike Dunleavy says team did everything to retain Brand and will move on with Baron Davis.

By Jonathan Abrams
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 10, 2008

One thing is certain: Elton Brand is now a Philadelphia 76er.

How, exactly, he got there, was up for debate Wednesday among the Clippers, Brand and his agent, David Falk.

Brand, who signed a five-year deal with the 76ers worth an estimated $82 million, originally received an offer from the Clippers last week for five years and $70 million, a deal that was delivered as a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, Falk said.

"I wasn't angry, but I was surprised. You don't expect a team to give a franchise player an ultimatum. You wouldn't expect the Lakers to do that with Kobe Bryant. You wouldn't expect the Heat to do that with Dwyane Wade," Falk said.

Countered Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy:

"After I supposedly gave him a take it or leave it offer, we raised the offer to $75 million and $81 million. They can spin this thing anyway they want to try and spin it. The bottom line is, anything Elton ever wanted I did it for him. They stopped having communication with us more than a week ago."

And finally, the player himself:

"That was my intent to sign with the Clippers," Brand said Thursday. "But I'm not a lawyer. We need to make a deal. And in making the deal, it fell through."

Falk said Brand opted out of the final season of his contract with the Clippers, a season in which he was owed $16.4 million, with every intention of re-signing with the organization.

"In free agency, everything is compressed," said Falk, who also represented Michael Jordan and negotiated Sam Cassell's buyout from the Clippers last season.

"You don't have time to play ping-pong. When they said $70 [million], I took it for face value. It was too much of a sacrifice, that's all."

Falk said neither he, nor Brand, was seeking revenge or additional money and, if that had been the case, they would have accepted a five-year and $90-million offer from Golden State.

"Elton made the decision," Falk said. "Coming to Philadelphia wasn't a move made out of revenge. The Warriors were terrific. They were patient and waited. And I know they were very disappointed. If revenge was the motive, he would have ended up in Golden State."

Others in the Clippers organization, including some of Brand's former teammates, believed a deal had been locked in place with him, especially after a verbal agreement was reached with free-agent point guard Baron Davis. Brand had text messaged teammates that he was excited about the prospects of the team, according to NBA sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about player movements.

Falk said that he found out, belatedly, that the Clippers had been negotiating with Brand without his agent. "I didn't know it then, I know it now," Falk said. "I know it after the fact. It's probably the reason that the deal fell apart."

Still, once the negotiations officially began between the parties last week, with Falk involved, a sticking point became an early termination option that Brand wanted.

Brand said he was told the Clippers could not get owner Donald T. Sterling on the phone to grant the request. So, he and Falk immediately began to look elsewhere.

"It's negotiations. No matter what was said, David Falk, my registered agent, never agreed to any deal" with the Clippers, Brand said.

Said Dunleavy:

"I don't know what poisoned Elton against us. But obviously something did. I loved Elton as a player. I'm disappointed and hurt that he left us, but I wish him the best in his future career in Philadelphia."

Late last week, after the Warriors offered Brand $90 million, the Clippers upped their offer to $75 million. Then, Tuesday, the 76ers made a trade to clear some cap space for Brand. That was when the Clippers offered him $81-million deal for five years, a deal, Falk said, that was only extended after the organization knew they had accepted Philadelphia's offer.

Brand reiterated that he felt the Clippers' first offer was a take-it-or-leave it demand: "That's exactly what it was. Or that's what they said it was. And then, they came back and matched. But it's like, 'OK, do that the first time.' "

Dunleavy said the Clippers never got the proper chance, because the communication lines had been cut.

In the end, Brand said the decision was made to be closer to his family -- he is from New York -- and the chance to play with a strong, young nucleus in Philadelphia.

And what about that potential Brand-Davis pairing?

"That could have been a good team and a real special team. But sometimes, enough is enough," Brand said. "I wish them well. They're not bad people and this isn't like a get-out-of-jail card."

But, he is gone, with a Clippers Nation wondering what went so wrong, so fast.

GuyverX wrote:So this is what we get from this article:

Brand claims:

He felt he wasn't being treated like a franchise player
The Clippers' offer of $70 million was "take it or leave it"
A major part of the deal was an ETO, which the Clippers denied
Dunleavy tried to negotiate with Brand without Falk's knowledge
The Clippers offer of $81mil was too little too late

Dunleavy claims:

The offer of $70mil offer was not "take it or leave it" but was part of negotiations
Brand and Falk wouldn't give the Clippers a chance to negotiate
He did whatever Brand asked him to do
The Brand camp cut off all communication over a week ago.

madmaxmedia wrote:
That's a good rundown of the story, as presented by each side. Maybe in the days ahead we will get some more dirt from another source. Until then, we'll all just make our own opinion of the matter.

I do think the truth, as usual, will be somewhere in the middle. I think the Clippers felt like they were perhaps just negotiating, and that EB felt like the Clippers were insulting him. In that sense they are both right, that was how each side experienced it all. And once Brand felt like the Clippers didn't really want him, he no longer felt any obligation to give them more of a chance than any other team.

But if that is the case, I still fault the Clippers more than Brand. They've already got Baron. There's not reason not to go ahead and renounce Livingston and Maggette, and offer some more money to EB. EB came out and said he'd play for less, all you gotta do is give a little on your side too, and its a done deal.

madmaxmedia wrote:I don't think Dunleavy was trying to go around Falk's back either. He was just trying to reach out to EB. But for whatever reason, EB wasn't interested anymore.

I'm not sure why you think the Brand camp cut the Clippers off even before Davis's deal. There was a big meeting afterwards where the reported $70 million offer was made and discussed. It's just the events of that meeting that are contested by both sides.

mkwest wrote:Here's another article with quotes from Dunleavy and Mobley in the Daily News.

"I can show text messages to Falk and all those things, (that we) made a verbal deal. You don't have to keep a verbal deal. It's not binding. You can say, 'You know what? I changed my mind I want to go to the East Coast because my wife's family is there. Or it's easier to make the playoffs. Or I can be an All-Star in the East as opposed to the West.' But just say it: We had a verbal deal and I just changed my mind."

Mobley didn't want to take sides, but said he had been worried about Brand's status as soon as Brand opted out of his contract June 30 and became an unrestricted free agent.

"I've been talking to Elton all along. Last week was the last time I talked to him, and he was scaring me the whole time," Mobley said. "I don't really know why he didn't want to come back. He's like my brother, so it's tough.

GuyverX wrote:

mkwest wrote:Here's another article with quotes from Dunleavy and Mobley in the Daily News.

A lot of it is the same from the Times article except the part about Dunleavy having text messages about a verbal deal. I would love to see those texts. And Brand said it wasn't that Philly was offering him the most money...it was because they gave him all they could.

And you have to love Mobley. He thinks our roster is close to the Finals. He's way out there but it's nice to know somebody on that team thinks we'll be ok.

ckchen wrote:For what it's worth tho - what Elton/Falk say has some argument to it as well. Why even start with a 5 yr/$70M deal saying that it's the most they can do, and then suddenly come up with more money only after they get better offers from other teams? You can say the Clips FO eventually came up with a comparable deal - but if they had the capability to do so, why didn't they do it from the beginning?

Fishy~McFish wrote:

ckchen wrote:If Brand didn't like it couldn't he have waited it out a bit to get more and return with a higher offer? The Clippers didn't even renounce some players at the time(and they actually did just earlier from a RealGM wiretap just posted). So they did have some extra cap space to get.I didn't see any mention of a counter-offer from Brand's side(unless I missed it).