Lamar Odom shrugs off rumours of his link with the Los Angeles Clippers – NBA Update
Lamar Odom is not interested in returning to Los Angeles – for the Clippers.
Odom has had it tough this season and amid rumours that the Dallas Mavericks are interested in buying out his contract, the veteran has vowed to gut the situation out and put his best foot forward for his new franchise. When asked
whether he would like to join the Clippers if in case he is waived off, LO was not impressed and brought his loyalty to the fore;
"I'm willing to gut things out," Odom said. "That's the kind of personality I have, that's how I am, that's the kind of man I am. I'm loyal, trustworthy because I'm what they call stand-up. I just want the small things in life
as everybody else. I want to be treated fairly; we all want to be liked. Some of us do care."
After leaving his former franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers, under undesirable circumstances earlier this season, last year’s sixth man of the year has been struggling to find his feet at the Mavericks. Entering the All-Star break,
LO averaged only 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and ever since he pulled out of the game against the Lakers due to the ill health of his father, there have been very strong indications that the Mavs have had enough with Odom’s attitude.
Mark Cuban had met the player and his agent last Wednesday to understand the issue and the next day, in a rare feat of public outburst, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, openly questioned Odom’s attitude. Lamar was supposed to return
immediately after the All-Star weekend, but did not show up until Wednesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. To make the matters worse, the Mavs lost all three games in his absence as with Dirk Nowitzki struggling on fitness; they were left light on backup.
Odom finally played Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz. Before the game started he apologized to his team mates and then showed some of his form, scoring 9 points and 5 rebounds in nearly 18 minutes. The Mavs won that game and
it seems now that the dust is settling.
Nowitzki, the architect of last season’s championship run, also gave his thumbs up to Odom after the Jazz game;
"If he plays like that he's going to miss some shots -- we don't really care about that -- but he was into it, he was rebounding, he was blocking shots, he was focused," he said. "If he plays like that, I think we're a different
team."
Odom again featured for 24:19 minutes against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, but failed to impress with 6 points on a 3-of-9 shooting from the field.
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