What if I told you the same man who runs one of the most successful franchises in the NBA was also their worst contract ever? Even better, this same contract altered NBA history forever.
Through his first nine seasons in the NBA, Elton Brand was a walking bucket. He dominated for the Bulls & Clippers while averaging 20 PPG & 10 RPG with over 2 blocks per game.
When the Summer of 2008 hit, Elton Brand was one of the biggest free agents on the market despite rupturing his achilles in the previous season. Brand’s original plan was to re-sign with the LA Clippers and team up with another top free agent named Baron Davis.
The Clippers were hyped to bring Elton Brand back, but the 76ers came in with an offer for an extra $7 million to put the deal at 5 years, $82 million. Brand ditched the Clippers and headed to the 76ers while Baron Davis honored his deal with the Clippers.
However, Brand played in only 29 games his first season in Philadelphia due to a separated shoulder. While Brand struggled to stay healthy in Philly, Davis was being heckled by the owner of his team: Donald Sterling. Sterling would sit courtside at home games for the Clippers and call him various expletives & even enter the locker room to scream at players.
The Clippers & Baron Davis eventually parted ways, as they traded Davis and their own first-round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That pick just so happened to turn into the #1 overall pick in the 2011 draft. The player that the Cavaliers drafted? Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie Irving ultimately led to LeBron James returning to Cleveland to bring the Cavaliers an NBA championship. If it weren’t for Elton Brand signing the worst contract in 76ers history, we may have never seen Kyrie & LeBron team-up in Cleveland.
Elton Brand went on to average 12 points & 7 rebounds a game while in Philadelphia, and they ultimately used their amnesty clause in 2012 to move on from him.
Every Wednesday we’ll drop a new entry in the Once Upon a Bad Contract series to take a look at how bad contracts shaped the history of sports.
