The L.A. Lakers will trade reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks for a 2012 first round draft pick and a portion of the Mavs' recently acquired trade exception, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Odom rumor first surfaced after the Lakers' attempted trade for Chris Paul fell apart on Saturday, two days after NBA commissioner David Stern blocked L.A.'s three-team deal for CP3 that included sending Odom to the league-owned New Orleans Hornets.
Lakers Send Lamar Odom To Mavericks For Draft Pick, Trade Exception
Odom was disconsolate on Thursday, and spent just 15 minutes at the open of Lakers' training camp on Friday. It's unclear whether the Odom move opens up an avenue for the Lakers to acquire Dwight Howard; if not, it will look a whole lot like the league screwed up enough that the Lakers had no choice but to give up Odom for very little.
Odom makes $8.9 million, so he'll soak up most of the Mavericks' traded player exception, with is worth roughly $13 million. The Mavericks executed a sign-and-trade sending Tyson Chandler to the New York Knicks on Saturday, which created the exception. The Mavs had been reported to be interested in pulling free agent Samuel Dalembert with a portion of the exception, but it's unlikely the remaining $4 million left on it will be enough. (The Mavericks could sign Dalembert to the mid-level exception and sign-and-trade for another free agent, if it becomes an issue.)
Odom had played for the Lakers since 2004, and has spent 11 of the 12 NBA season playing in Los Angeles.
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