Has Elton Brand Played His Last Game as a Clipper?

by Tom Lewis on Aug 3, 2007 9:30 PM EDT in Indiana Pacers News

Ouch!!! Elton Brand ruptured his Achilles' tendon while working out on Friday. Not a good injury for a big fella heading into his ninth year in the league. I can't imagine Brand will be contributing anything this year (there goes one of the rock solid fantasy performers of his generation). With a player option for '08-'09, could Brand's days as a Clipper be over?

I know that's a quick conclusion to jump to considering he's still icing the injury, but it didn't take long to make the jump. Could the Clippers begin shopping around for an All-Star caliber forward to fill an immediate void? Can't see it happening with the Pacers. Unless the Pacers were willing to gamble on Shaun Livingston's knee (nightmares of Jonathan Bender flashing in my head), they'd probably have to settle for Corey Magette, Cuttino Mobley, Aaron Williams and a pick. But that doesn't work since the Pacers are fully stocked with small forward/shooting guard type of players. Stop it! Don't even utter the words, Chris Kaman. His contract makes the contracts of Dunleavy and Murphy seem like a steal.

Dealing J.O. to the Clippers just doesn't seem feasible, even if the Pacers were desperate to move him, which they don't appear to be. Bruno dropped by Donnie Walsh's office to get his reaction to the Kevin Garnet deal, which has naturally created another round of speculation about Jermaine O'Neal's future with the Pacers.

Of course, O'Neal's availability likewise has been an assumption.

"It's a similar situation to where it is every year," Walsh said. "You'll talk about every player on your team but whether you're going to do something or not depends on how good the trade is and whether it makes you a better team.

"There are very, very few trades that involve players of the caliber of Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal, LeBron James, etc. They're few and far between."

Hmmm, seems like he's saying they're not working on anything with J.O., but then again he doesn't actually say that does he? Kobe's still steaming, so the Lakers may have to eventually deliver the goods for J.O. The goods don't have to include Lamar Odom, either. In fact, please don't include Odom. I can suffer through a year of Kwame if it includes Javaris Crittenton. Unless, of course, J.O. really wants to stay. If that is the case, leave him be and let's see how many people the Pacers can shock in the East this year.

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