76ers Basketball

If there were any fans that stopped following the team when AI got traded or didn't care when they were losing games, it's time to get back on the wagon.

The LA Times is reporting that Elton Brand has a verbal agreement to sign for about 80 million over 5 years. This is a little more than the Clippers were prepared to offer to bring him back, but it's also a little less than what Golden State thought it would take to bring him in.

The Elton Brand offseason has been quite a story. He opts out of his current contract with one year remaining, but not to get more money. He wanted to create cap room so the team could sign Baron Davis, who opted out of his contract, to become contenders. The 76ers went all-out in pursuit of Josh Smith, thinking the window on Brand was closed.

However, at some point, Ed Stefanski and Brand's agent had a meeting. This was probably best for both sides. Why would Brand want to leave a team out of negotiations and not explore every option, and why would the Sixers not want to look into every player? It turns out, it was the right idea for everyone.

The Sixers extended a contract offer, and Brand was interested. Apparently, the Clippers had previously made a lesser offer and said that they could not offer any more money. When they caught wind of Philadelphia's proposal, they changed their tune. Brand was not happy about the lowballing attempt and was turned off to LA.

To make room for all of this to take place, the Sixers made a little deal with Minnesota. They cleared out just enough cap space by sending Rodney Carney, Calvin Booth and Utah's first rounder for for Minny's trade exception and a second round pick. This freed up just enough room to increase the offer to Brand and get him interested. Now we just have to wait for it to become official, and hopefully it does.