We should have known that it was too good to be true. In hindsight, to have thought otherwise was just plain silly.
The Los Angeles Clippers, who as little as two days ago were on the verge of being relevant in a city that often forgets it has two professional basketball teams, let Elton Brand slip away, and with him, any chance of being, well, not the Clippers.
Brand signed a five year deal Wednesday with the Philadelphia 76ers for a reported $79.795 million. He will take with him a career average of 20.3 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. But that isn’t all he’ll take.
He also takes with him any chance the Clippers had of making the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, and perhaps more importantly, an interesting departure story that goes something like this…
A week ago highly coveted free agent Baron Davis verbally committed to signing with the notoriously frugal Los Angeles Clippers, sending a strong message to the world that the Clippers were finally ready to spend the money necessary to win.
Or so we all thought.
Pairing two all-star caliber players (Davis and Brand) gave the Clippers at the very least immediate respect, and at most, a chance to survive the wild western conference. There was one caveat though – Brand wasn’t actually on the team yet.
Brand opted out of the final year of his contract a few days prior to give the team cap room to sign a lucrative free agent and show him they were serious about building a contender. They did, and then something interesting happened – nothing.
A day passed and no word from Brand. Then another, and soon, the rumor mill started to turn. The Clippers allegedly made a lowball offer to Brand, and with what many people saw as a retaliation move for taking away Davis, the Golden State Warriors made a max-deal type offer to him.
Brand’s inaction then got the 76ers interested. They made a trade to free up cap room and then they made a lucrative offer to Brand. Here is when things got really interesting. Clippers owner Donald Sterling apparently made a take-it-or-leave-it offer to Brand for significantly less dollars than the Warriors and 76ers were offering, and to top it all off, he allegedly said that he would be happy with Brand’s decision either way.
Is Sterling freaking serious? He’s fine letting one of the best power forwards in the league go without getting anything in return? He’s fine letting any hope of making the playoffs vanish with the stroke (or lack thereof) of a pen?
There are bad basketball decisions, there are moves so bad I need to create entirely new words to describe them (McHalean!), and then there is this. This is beyond inexcusable. It’s a slap in the face to Brand (who I don’t blame for leaving if said reports are true) and it’s a slap in the face to the few people in LA who still root for the Clippers.
Sterling has shown time and time again that he doesn’t care about winning, only about squeezing every last nickel and dime from his fans. He doesn’t deserve Brand and certainly doesn’t deserve an NBA franchise.
And you know what? I hear Seattle just happens to be looking for one.
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