NBA odds: What does Brand to Sixers mean?

Well, Elton Brand surprised everyone, especially the Los Angeles Clippers, by signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

The former Duke star is being pilloried in much of the media for supposedly going against his word after saying his “intention” was to re-sign with L.A. after opting out of his contract. However, the market for Brand suddenly changed when the Warriors and Sixers offered deals that were millions more than the Clippers’.

So despite Brand supposedly luring friend Baron Davis to L.A. and asking that team to improve around him, he took the money and headed back East – he’s from New York.

Brand, who got a five-year, $82 million deal, joins a Sixers team that is no longer the lottery-bound loser it was a year ago. Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Samuel Dalembert and the blossoming Thaddeus Young turned the 76ers into a surprise playoff team, even stretching Detroit to six games in a first-round series. And that was with a starting power forward, Reggie Evans, who averaged only 5.2 points. Brand is a career 20-10 guy.

Now the Sixers should be a top-four team in the East and could even surpass Detroit and Cleveland as a main challenger to Boston.

As for the other teams involved in this merry-go-round:

The Warriors have made two moves in the wake of losing Davis and not getting Brand. First, they signed Corey Maggette to a five-year, $50-million deal.Maggette averaged 22.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 35.7 minutes for the Clippers last season. His relentless attacking approach to offense produced a career-high 681 free throws, sixth-most in the league.He said he asked the Clippers if they would match Golden State’s deal. The answer was no.

"I wish the Clippers would have at least given me an opportunity, and they didn't," he said. "But there's no bad blood, and I wish them the best."

In addition, the Warriors have offered a four-year deal to Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf, but L.A. has seven days to match that contract.

The Clippers, as usual, are the big losers in all this.

They are expected to focus their wallet on Hawks swingman Josh Smith as well as Charlotte Bobcats restricted free-agent Emeka Okafor to fill Brand's spot. However, the Hawks and Bobcats can offer more money and one more maximum year than the Clippers, and the Hawks for sure are expected to do so. Okafor reportedly is pondering taking a one-year deal from Charlotte and then becoming an unrestricted free agent next year.

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