Lamar Odom lands at Los Angeles Clippers after a 4-way trade - NBA Update
Lamar Odom is finally reunited with Los Angeles Clippers, the franchise that drafted him into the league. The veteran came full circle in his NBA career after a four-team trade was made with the Dallas, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets.
The trade had been in the rumour factory for the past week, but it was finalized after Clips Mo Williams exercised his player option for $8.5 million. Through this way Clippers were able to send Mo back to Jazz - the team that
drafted Williams back in 2003. Jazz in return sent draft rights of forward Tadija Dragicevic to Mavs and Rockets received the draft rights of Furkan Aldemir (53rd over pick this year) from the Clippers.
After sending Odom to Clips, Mavs also created their own trade exception that worth’s $8.9 million. They did so after getting rid of Lamar’s contract without taking any salary. Had they failed, the Mavs would have bought Lamar
out for $2.4 million, making him a free agent.
The trade was initially projected to be finalized on Thursday, but Mo Williams and his agent Mark Bartelstein took their time to decide about Williams’ player option. During his last season with Clips, Williams averaged 13.2 points
and 3.1 assists in 52 games.
Bartelstein reiterated that his client will play as starting point guard in the future and will not accept any other role. That can however be a bit of a problem as Jazz already have an established floor manager in the form of
Devin Harris.
"But the more we looked at it, the more excited we were about going back to Utah. Mo's very happy to be going back there." In a text message to ESPNLosAngeles.com, Williams wrote: "It's where it all began. I'm excited about the
opportunity."
On the other hand Clips received the 2010-2011 6th Man of the Year, Lamar Odom. He is coming off a turbulent season with Mavs in which he posted his career’s lowest stats. The 32-year-old averaged 6.6 points and 4.2
boards and was listed inactive late in the season.
Mark Cuban was contended with the trade and he said that the draft rights and salary cap will reap benefits for them.
"No point looking in the rear-view mirror," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPNDallas.com. "... There are definitely advantages from a cap perspective."
Clips coach Vinny Del Negro considered Lamar’s arrival a good omen.
“I can't talk about other teams' players," Del Negro said. "But you know what a player of his calibre has done in this league”.
Coming into Clips, Lamar will get a chance to perform alongside Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Chauncey Billups and Randy Foye and his addition will add more offensive depth to Clippers game.
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