Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol miss Los Angeles Lakers training camp – NBA Update
Small forward Lamar Odom and power forward Pau Gasol both did not participate in training for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The pair had been involved in a trade to bring New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul to the Los Angeles
Lakers, but the deal was blocked by NBA Commissioner David Stern after many small market owners protested.
Lamar and Pau were both visibly hurt by the fact that the team tried to trade them away and didn’t know what the future now held for the two. Lamar reported to training camp a full 90 minutes late and left after meeting with team
General Manager Mitch Kupchak. The player did not speak to reporters when leaving, nor did star forward Gasol.
"To me, I would think it's better to stay away," Odom told The Los Angeles Times. "You know, the energy and all. I don't know how it's going to go right now. It's a little weird."
If the trade had gone through, Odom would have reported for training in New Orleans on Friday. Gasol was supposed to be headed to the Houston Rockets, the last team in the three way trade.
Odom was pretty upset with the developments and said the teams could pull off trades without the consent of players in the name of business, while players are deemed unprofessional for voicing their opinions.
He refused to comment on how he will be approaching the new season with the Lakers and wasn’t even sure about going back to the team right away.
"I don't know if it's going to happen overnight or it's going to be a drawn-out process," Odom said, according to the newspaper. "I don't want to offend the sport and the professionalism. Right now, I'll be a fan of the game from
the distance. But as of right now, I just don't know."
The Lakers didn’t hint at taking any action against Odom on Friday as they understood the gravity of the situation. Kupchak talked to the players before practice on Friday to clear the air about the current dilemma facing the franchise.
They also made clear that they would talk to Odom and try to pacify the situation from within.
"Any conversations we have with him on this will be handled internally," Lakers vice president of public relations John Black said.
Even as the Lakers issued the statement, it was understood that they have reengaged the New Orleans Hornets and the Houston Rockets in order to reshuffle the cards in the trade. Small market owners had complained that the deal
was too favourable for Los Angeles and the three parties involved are now believed to be working to make it more balanced.
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