The fun surrounding Mark Cuban's tiff with Lamar Odom that led to the end of the forward's career with the Dallas Mavericks continues, as Cuban spoke to the media about his interaction with Odom at halftime of Saturday's game against Memphis.
Mark Cuban Explains Rift With Lamar Odom
“He didn’t want to play. He decided to go elsewhere or do something else. Now we regroup and go forward,” Cuban said. “We kept on hoping things would turn out right. It just got to the point where there weren’t enough games in the season to try to find out.”
Cuban said he had seen Odom become disinterested with the game several -- well, apparently, exactly 17 -- times before.
“The first 17 times, I decided to try to help him and turn it into a positive.”
However, Cuban took responsibility for the failure to get Odom to adapt to Dallas’ environment after his team acquired the Kardashian-espoused forward in the offseason.
''If I'm going to be the guy who smiles with my hand on the trophy, I've got to be the guy who takes the responsibility,'' Cuban said. ''It was just my initiative, just paying attention. ... I was working with him, tried to get him back on the horse. When I failed, it was my job to recognize it, and deal with it."
Nobody enjoys seeing a player with a unique skillset sidelined for apparent personality issues as the NBA season reaches its climax, but it's been clear from the start that Odom's stay in Dallas was ill-fated. Odom felt at home in Los Angeles -- championships will help that -- and seemingly was unfit for coming off the bench for a team that had just gotten rid of key components of a championship squad, especially when that squad was willing to send him to the D-League (before various circumstances prevented that from happening). This was last year's Sixth Man of the Year, and between personal issues including a murdered cousin and a fatal car accident resulting in the death of a teenager, a reality show, and a transition from a beloved role in a place he called home to an opposite scenario, Odom will be out of the picture as the NBA season culminates. Cuban's statements make it clear that this wasn't going to work out.
For more on the Mavericks, visit Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas.
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