When Lamar Odom arrived at Dallas, the NBA world saw it as the first step towards the title defence for the Mavs. Two months later, it seems that the ex- Lakers big is on his way out of the franchise .....
Lamar Odom has had a great run in NBA but now it seems that he has reached the end of the cliff and it’s a steep down fall for him. The celebrated last season’s 6th man of the year seems to have lost his touch completely after he was traded off by the Los Angeles Lakers.
He has been struggling to fit in with Dallas Mavericks since his arrival in December; after a trade from Lakers at his own request. The 32 year old forward is undeniably in a poor physical and mental condition, as he has averaged the career lowest 7.7 in points and 4.5 assists along with 1.7 field goal percentage per game in this shortened season.
The 6 ft 10 towering player has been going through a lot lately. His performance has been visibly affected due to the intractability with Mavericks system but the death of his younger cousin and now his ailing father have contributed.
Most recently, he had excused himself from the game against his former team, the Lakers, on Monday as he had to attend his father who was suffering from stomach flu.
Later on it was confirmed that he will not be on the roster against New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night as he is still attending the ostensible family emergency.
"Lamar is not here today," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said on Monday. "He is still dealing with a family matter and the hope is he'll join us soon, and we'll update you when there's an update."
Normally heart attacks, death beds and dire accidents are the reasons behind players missing a season game, but Odom left for much less fatal reason. He let down his franchise that stood beside him in the past months patiently, while he displayed a horrible show.
Rumour has it that Odom will not return and mid season buyout is a possibility for Mavs. The franchise has shown its increasing interest in Deron Williams and Dwight Howard who will be free agents sooner and a Odom will be a perfect offering in return.
Lamar didn’t play any role in Mavs 5 game winning streak and with 7.7 points and 4.5 boards average in 32 games he will not be missed by his current team. But there is surely a lot going under the hood as the management is trying to avert the obvious by showing optimism and hope.
"I think we're closer than we've ever been to him playing well," Carlisle had said. "We've just got to stay the course and stay positive about it. The guy's too good of a player and ... he has two bad games in a row and everybody's ready to jump again, but I'm not going there.”
But, Odom was nowhere to be seen in the Nets game, which the Mavs lost by 92-93 and without any specific reason, the forward will also not be playing the next against the Memphis Grizzlies.
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