The Dallas Mavericks have known for quite some time that Lamar Odom just didn’t feel like contributing to their team this past season, or, probably, for any forthcoming seasons as well. Now, as the offseason gets underway and players will begin to move freely about the league this weekend, Dallas is trying to sever any remaining ties with Odom — those ties would be of the financial kind — via trade.
This report, coming from ESPN’s Marc Stein, indicates that the Los Angeles Clippers have an interest in bringing Odom back to the franchise that drafted him.
The deal for the Mavericks is all about moving on from the one time seeming coup from the Los Angeles Lakers turned miserable failure of an experiment in Odom, and more importantly further loosening their money belt, which is why, as the report says, the inclusion of Mo Williams’ contract — should that be something the Clippers want to shed — will likely either be a deal-breaker or necessitate the need for another team to enter in these trade discussions.
From the Clippers’ side of things, the addition of Odom could bolster their front-line and versatility and, since they base their operations in the city of Los Angeles, Odom will likely, hopefully, be happy enough with his overall situation to give a damn. That Dallas wasn’t L.A. was always their biggest fault in that whole mess.
Odom will end up somewhere else, probably sooner than later, and then we can all go back to pondering on how he will be able to help his new team in so many different areas of the game. Dallas will get monetary flexibility — good if they can land someone like Deron Williams, yet still disappointing that they couldn’t just stick with an engaged Lamar Odom. That would’ve helped, too. Wherever he lands, hopefully we’ll be able to discuss his play rather than his reasons for not doing so.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver on SB Nation. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
