Elton Brand Offers Clippers Fans a Glimmer of Hope

by Marcel Mutoni

You really have to feel for fans of the Los Angeles Clippers: After getting teased with what having a good basketball team can feel like two years ago, they’ve been reminded by the Gods who they’re really cheering for, as their team has reverted back to the crushing suckitude of years past.

Not only are their envied Staples neighbors enjoying a wildly successful season, but the head coach and team owner have routinely expressed their mutual hatred for one another through the press all season long, and there’s a chance that a good chunk of the team’s key players could bolt this summer.

Elton Brand, though, threw the long-suffering fans a bone by saying he might stick around for the future. Well, maybe.

Brand, who will earn $16.4 million next season if he stays, spoke of coming back to play late this season as a building block toward next year. He stopped just short of giving a full endorsement to the team.

“As long as everything is done fair, everything on the up and up . . . as far as negotiations or value or whatever it is that agents and owners go through, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem” to come back, Brand said.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the organization or an indication of the star forward’s burning desire to stay on the team, but it’s better than nothing. And that’s pretty much the only thing Clipper fans can hang their hat on these days.