Atlanta Hawks re-sign Elton Brand

Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is in the middle of a whirlwind regarding racist comments directed toward Luol Deng, but he is still managing to do his job. The Hawks re-signed veteran big man Elton Brand Wednesday, according to Yahoo Sports Adrian Wojnarowski.

Brand has been in the NBA for 15 years, though it seems longer. He played in 73 games last season with the Hawks, starting 15. Brand averaged 5.7 points per game, shooting a career high 53.9 percent. He also averaged 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

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Brand re-signed for $2 million this season, half of what he made last season. He’s made more than $165 million throughout his 15 seasons, according to basketball-reference.com.

It’s a solid signing for the Hawks. Brand played an important role when center Al Horford went down with a season-ending injury. Horford will be back this season, but having a veteran presence like Brand will help. That’s not limited to basketball, either. With everything going on within the Hawks organization, someone like Brand might help stabilize the locker room.

It’s unclear how many minutes he will play, though. Pero Antic proved to be a valuable contributor and mismatch down the stretch and the team drafted stretch-4 Adreian Payne in the first round. Having those two shows the Hawks are taking a step to stretch the floor, which is something Brand doesn’t do.