What is Elton Brand waiting for?

Shortly after receiving a verbal committment from Baron Davis, the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly offered Elton Brand a five-year, $70 million dollar contract extension.

Instead of agreeing to the extension on the spot, Brand is contemplating an offer from the Golden State Warriors that is rumored to be $90 million over five-years.

According to Basketball-reference.com, Brand has made $81,543,136 over his nine-year career.  At that point, what difference does an extra $20 million dollars make?  How many homes and luxury vehicles does one person need?

Maybe Elton is having second thoughts about the Clippers roster.  That’s understandable.  When healthy, Davis is one of the NBA’s top five point guards.  But is he any better than the point guard-shooting foward combination of Sam Cassell and Corey Maggette?  Doubtful.  Maggette and Cassell were the Clippers 2nd and 3rd leading scorers on a team that came within one game of advancing to the Western Conference Finals in 2006.

The addition of Davis all but sealed Maggette’s fate.  He won’t be returning to La La Land.

That leaves the Clippers with a starting lineup that will feature Davis, Cuttino Mobley, Al Thornton, Brand, and Chris Kaman.  With Tim Thomas coming off the bench.  LA will be good enough to compete for a playoff birth in the Western Conference.  But they’re still far from championship contention.

There are plenty of All-Star point guard-power forward duos in the NBA.  Deron Williams-Carlos Boozer, Chauncey Billups-Rasheed Wallace, Chris Paul-David West, Steve Nash-Amare Stoudemire.  All of those teams are searching for that third piece.  The Davis-Brand Clippers will be no different.

Triumvirates win NBA championships.  Garnett-Pierce-Allen, Duncan-Ginobili-Parker, Jordan-Pippen-Rodman, Magic-Kareem-Worthy. There have been a few exceptions to that rule over the years.  Shaq-Kobe, Olajuwon-Drexler, and the celebrated team work of Isiah Thomas and Chauncey Billups’ Pistons come to mind.  Although I don’t think anyone would mistake Brand-Davis or the Clippers for those players or teams.

Still, Los Angeles — with Brand and Davis — would be 2/3 of the way there.

Don Nelson’s system puts butts in the seats.  But it won’t win an NBA championship.  It’s not a system that plays to Brand’s strengths either.

Either way, Brand’s career will end with him having made upwards of $150 million dollars to play a game he used to play for free.

When it’s all said and done, how much of that would Elton have traded for a chance to win a championship?

We’re about to find out.