Sixers GM Elton Brand is a likely candidate to run the Charlotte Hornets’ basketball operations
Brand has been the Sixers' general manager since 2018. Daryl Morey has been the team's president of basketball operations since November 2020.
Elton Brand may be in line to run another NBA franchise.
A league source confirmed Monday that the 76ers general manager is expected to be a candidate to head basketball operations with the Charlotte Hornets. The Charlotte Observer listed Brand among possible candidates to keep an eye on.
The job became available Monday when Mitch Kupchak moved into a consulting role within the organization. Kupchak had served as Charlotte’s president of basketball operations and general manager since 2018.
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On Sept. 18, 2018, the Sixers stayed in-house and hired Brand as general manager. Brand replaced Bryan Colangelo, who resigned as GM and president of basketball operations that June.
Before the GM role, Brand was the Sixers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager of their G League team, the Delaware Blue Coats. He also had two playing stints with the Sixers, the second time in 2016 as he served as a mentor to the team’s young players.
The 6-foot-8, 265-pound forward then retired, ending a 17-year career that started when the Chicago Bulls chose him with the first pick in the 1999 draft.
In 2018, the Sixers went after a number of accomplished, high-level executives around the NBA, knowing that the candidates would want the final say and not be part of a consensus-oriented front office. They picked Brand, partly because he was willing to work on collaborative decision-making.
Fast-forward to Aug. 25, 2020. Brand acknowledged the “collaboration days didn’t work too well” on the heels of the Sixers’ being swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Boston Celtics. He also noted that the team was evaluating its front-office structure and personnel.
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That led the team to hire Daryl Morey as president of basketball operations on Nov. 2, 2020. While Morey has the final say, he works closely with Brand.
Now, Brand, 44, could be in line to run his own organization.
Among the other candidates are New Orleans Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon, Milwaukee Bucks assistant general manager Milt Newton, New York Knicks assistant general manager Frank Zanin, and Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson.