Report: Dallas Mavericks Claim Elton Brand off Amnesty Waivers

Elton Brand has been claimed off waiver by the Dallas Mavericks after he was cut by the Philadelphia 76ers via the amnesty clause.

Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported the news on Twitter. 

"

The Dallas Mavericks have successfully claimed Elton Brand off amnesty waivers, a league source tells Y! Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 13, 2012"

News of Brand’s impending release broke on July 6. As noted by ESPN’s Marc Stein, Philly's decision to part ways with their veteran forward was motivated by the team's impending signings of Nick Young and Spencer Hawes.

The amnesty clause is a provision in the new NBA collective bargaining agreement that allows a team to cut a player without any salary-cap or luxury-tax repercussions.

Brand left the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2008 and signed a five-year deal with Philadelphia worth just under $80 million.

The 33-year-old power forward averaged 11.0 points and 7.1 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game this past year, and was set to earn $18.1 million for the 2012-13 season.

The Sixers went to the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and upset the top-seeded Chicago Bulls (who, of course, were without the services of Derrick Rose for most the series).

The former Duke star was one of several solid, if not unspectacular, players for the 76ers, who managed to achieve success this past season through tough team defense.

The Mavericks in the mean time have had a terrible offseason after putting all their eggs in the Deron Williams basket and being snubbed. Mark Cuban and Co. then watched Jason Kidd and Jason Terry walk away.

The move to add Brand is in step with a recent effort to bolster the frontcourt. Dallas agreed to terms with former New Orleans Hornets center Chris Kaman earlier this week. 

While Brand is not the player he used to be, Dallas needed to add solid, reliable players, and the power forward can still contribute quality minutes.