Elton Brand Speaker & Booking Information

Elton Tyron Brand is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association for five teams. Brand was selected with the first overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, and also played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks.

In his rookie season, Brand averaged 20.1 points and 10 rebounds per game. In May 2000, Brand shared NBA Rookie of the Year honors with Houston Rockets guard Steve Francis. Through much of the 2000–01 season, Brand was hailed as the linchpin of a possible new Chicago dynasty. Brand averaged 20.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game; his 3.9 offensive rebounds per game were the second-best in the NBA.

After two successful seasons with the Bulls, Brand was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in June 2001 for Brian Skinner and the draft rights to Tyson Chandler. In 2002, Brand became the first Clipper since Danny Manning to be selected to the All-Star team. When Brand became a restricted free agent in 2003, the Miami Heat made an offer worth $82 million over six years. In what was an unprecedented move by team owner Donald Sterling, the Clippers matched Miami's offer and managed to keep Brand a Clipper. Prior to this, the biggest contract Sterling had approved to that point was a five-year, $15 million deal for Eric Piatkowski in 1998. In the 2006 NBA season, Brand experienced a personal renaissance. He posted career-highs in points per game and field-goal percentage, while leading the Clippers to a 47–35 record, good enough for the sixth seed in the Western Conference. In February 2006, Brand was selected to the 2006 NBA All-Star Game as a reserve forward for the West. While considered a strong candidate for the 2006 MVP award, Phoenix Suns' guard Steve Nash went on to win the award. On April 22, 2006, Brand made his playoff debut scoring 21 points against the Denver Nuggets. On May 1, Brand helped lead the team to its first playoff series win since 1976, when the team was known as the Buffalo Braves. Although the Clippers eventually lost in game 7 of the second round against the Phoenix Suns, the Clippers had the best season that their franchise had ever seen. Brand received the Joe Dumars Trophy after being named the 2005–06 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner. Following his stellar 2005–06 season, Brand regressed somewhat in the following season. His scoring average in 2006–07 dropped and the Clippers missed the playoffs. He missed most of the 2007–08 season due to a ruptured left Achilles' tendon. However, Brand made his return to the Clippers' lineup April 2, 2008 after being out since the end of the previous season. He contributed 19 points in his return. Brand played in only eight games that season. Brand later opted out of the final year of his contract and became a free agent. According to ESPN, sources have reported that Brand chose to opt out from his contract in order to provide Clippers with more payroll flexibility in hopes of strengthening their roster. This came to fruition when Clippers landed Golden State Warriors star Baron Davis. Briefly, this gave Clippers' management and the media the reassurance that Brand would indeed re-sign with the team.

On July 9, 2008, Brand signed with the Philadelphia 76ers to a reported five-year, $82 million contract. It was announced on February 5, 2009 that Brand would have season-ending shoulder surgery for the injury he sustained on December 17, 2008. During the game that night against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brand dislocated his shoulder when he was knocked to the floor while going for a rebound. Brand had been coming off of the bench so that he could be slowly worked back into the lineup, but after over a month on the bench and only six games back during which his production was severely limited, the decision was made to go forward with the surgery. The procedure was successfully performed on February 9. On July 11, 2012, Brand was released from the 76ers via the amnesty clause.

On July 13, 2012, Brand was claimed off waivers by the Dallas Mavericks with a winning bid of $2.1 million. The 76ers still had to pay out the remaining balance of the $18.2 million owed to Brand this season in the final year of his contract. In 2012–13, he averaged 7.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 assists in 21.2 minutes per game. He played 72 games and started 18 of them. The Mavericks finished 41-41 and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999–2000 season.

On July 15, 2013, Brand signed with the Atlanta Hawks. On September 23, 2014, he re-signed with the Hawks and changed his long-time jersey number of 42, to 7. On August 11, 2015, Brand announced his retirement from professional basketball.