Brand attended Peekskill High School, where he was immediately added to the varsity basketball roster.

After leading the Blue Devils to the championship game of the Final Four—where they were upset by the Connecticut Huskies—Brand was named the consensus National Player of the Year.

Brand, sophomore William Avery, and freshman Corey Maggette, were the first three players under Mike Krzyzewski to leave early for the draft and not play the full four years at Duke.

[2] On November 19, Brand scored 29 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots in the ninth game of his career, a 103–95 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

He ended the season with averages of 20.1 points and 10 rebounds per game, and he shared NBA Rookie of the Year honors with Houston Rockets guard Steve Francis.

On December 31, Brand scored a season high 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a 86–75 win over the New Jersey Nets.

[7] After two successful seasons with the Bulls, Brand was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in June 2001 for Brian Skinner and the draft rights to Tyson Chandler.

[9] When Brand became a restricted free agent in 2003, the Miami Heat made an offer worth $82 million over six years.

[11] Prior to this, the biggest contract Sterling had approved to that point was a five-year, $15 million deal for Eric Piatkowski in 1998.

Brand received the Joe Dumars Trophy after being named the 2005–06 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner.

Sources indicated that Brand chose to opt out from his contract in order to provide Clippers with more payroll flexibility in hopes of strengthening their roster.

[17] Brand longed to return to the East Coast, and chose Philadelphia as it was the closest suitor to his hometown of Peekskill, New York.

[24] On January 4, 2016, Brand came out of retirement to re-enter the NBA, citing that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski helped convince him to return to play.

[40] After the Sixers lost in the conference semifinals, Brand made a series of offseason moves that many, including star center Joel Embiid, believe have come back to haunt the team.

[40][48][49] Harris has yet to reach an All-Star game in his career; Simmons missed the 2020 playoffs, crumbled in the 2021 playoffs, and refused to play for the team thereafter; and the Sixers traded Horford after only one season, in which he posted a career low in field goal percentage and his fewest points-per-game in more than a decade.

[citation needed] During the off-season prior to the 2005–06 season, he trimmed his weight to increase his quickness and added more finesse moves underneath the basket so that he could score without having to utilize power all the time.

His foundation is an organization that provides support to worthy causes in Chicago, Illinois; Peekskill, New York; and Durham, North Carolina.

In the summer of 2006, Elton married his longtime girlfriend (and fellow Duke student) Shahara Simmons in North Carolina.

Brand also played for Team USA in the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championships, averaging 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.